Transcendence
by TrainerRed1995
Summary: As tensions begin to rise around the globe, a new wave of criminal activity is on the rise in the Sinnoh region. At the same time, a mysterious young man is on the verge of completing his mission. This time, however, the stakes are much higher, and the fate of the universe is questioned...
1. Chapter 1 (Prologue)

Chapter 1 (Prologue)

"There has not yet been word as to the explosions that occurred in the Hoenn region roughly a week ago. As far as the media has been made aware, current Hoenn Champion Matthew is currently pursuing the culprits, revealed a few days ago to be a few rogue Team Magma members, but no new information has been leaked to us. Stay tuned to Channel 4 International News for all the latest developments."

As the TV switched to the results of the Pokémon Contests from a few days ago, Mark leaned back in his chair, hand resting on his chin. As the mass of people in the Lilycove Club buzzed with activity, he couldn't help but think to himself, while making himself seem inconspicuous.

It had been about a week and a half since the three secret caves in Hoenn had exploded, revealing three supper-ancient Pokémon from their dormant state. Unfortunately, the culprits of the explosions were a few radical members of Team Magma, who had vowed to expand the landmass by any means necessary. Originally, they had targeted 'smaller' measures, like trying to blow up Mt. Chimney, an active volcano, and destroying the Space Center in Mossdeep. Eventually, they had resorted to stealing the Blue Orb in order to resurrect Groudon, the deity and creator of the Earth and landmasses. Matthew, along with Nicole and Emily, succeeded in defeating Team Magma AND their counterparts, Team Aqua, thereby saving the region and the world. Unfortunately, it seemed as Team Magma wasn't truly taken down just yet. It appeared that a few members had broken off (despite quite a show that Matthew made), and began to act independently, and they had stolen Legendary Pokémon in the process. Luckily, Matthew was able to get some inconspicuous help from some friends, so there was no need to send in any other Sages.

He kicked his feet over the side table he was sitting at. It was remarkable, really, this whole Sage business. He was still getting used to the concept. He wouldn't be so concerned about it, except for that incident with Catherine…

"Excuse me…" a voice said. "I think you dropped your focus again."

Looking up, he could see a young woman with long, dark brown hair looking at him with bright sapphire eyes. She sat down at the other end of the table, slipping out of her formal coat, revealing her thinner, light-blue tank, flashing a small grin. Mark grinned in reply.

"Ah, Nicole! Good to see you again. How was your swim competition?"

"It was fine," she replied, flipping her hair to the side. "I didn't do as well as I could have, though. I guess I was distracted…"

"I don't blame you." He took a glance around him, and lowered his voice a bit. "What's the word?"

"Well, you know that relations between the Pokémon Union and Sinnoh opened up a month ago, right?

"Yeah, I heard about that, considering I was in the meeting."

"Oh, right…" She smiled shyly. "I keep forgetting that.

"Anyway, Red has doing his Plate research thing, and he thinks Sinnoh could hold the final answers he's been looking for."

"What does that have to do with us, exactly?"

"Well, it so happens that he has found evidence pointing towards a Legendary Pokémon." She leaned in closer, her voice now but a whisper. "One that has been named as the 'Original One.'"

"Oh." He pulled himself upright in his seat. "That does sound interesting. Interesting, but why the urgency, exactly? We're the only ones who know about this, correct?"

"He believes that that is not the case, at least not yet. Remember the news about Galactic Corporation opening its doors in Sinnoh earlier this month? He said that it sounded like a familiar ruse, that this 'Galactic' might spell trouble. He's currently getting passes for us to travel to Sinnoh within the week."

"How long's the ride?"

"About two to three days. Not too bad, really. Once they join the Union, we can set up airways, but for now, that's all we got to work with."

"Is he already there?"

"He's arranging a series of smaller boat trips as we speak. The plan is to have two or three of us go at a time, for secrecy reasons."

"Got it. Have you heard from Matt yet?"

Her gaze dropped.

"No, he hasn't radioed in for about 24 hours. Should I be worried?"

"You know him better than I do. Should we?"

She smirked at him.

"If he didn't radio in, he has a good reason, or he knows I'd blow his brains out, one cell at a time."

"You two are so cute together." He climbed out of his seat. "Well, then, shall we?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"'Pokémon are by our sides, always. I hope you will understand the meaning of those words.' These were the words spoken by Sinnoh's Prof. Rowan, who has recently returned from his expedition to Kanto, where he spent the last four years studying with Prof. Oak. Thank you for tuning in to Jublife TV. Up next, the mysterious Pokémon of the Lake!"

With a blip, the TV screen faded to black. A young man, about 16, adjusted his bright red hat in boredom. He was average height, really, nothing special about him. His short, blackish-blue hair was stuffed into his cap, which would definitely mean a heap of hat hair the following night, but it rarely bothered John. He had spent most of his morning trying to find something interesting to watch on the TV, mainly out of survival. If they were playing that stupid documentary on the Red Gyarados again, that meant his friend Diamond would be pounding down his front door any minute, literally bursting to talk about it with someone.

"John! Your friend is here to see you!" Flinching in annoyance, he twisted his cap one more time for good luck, and made his way downstairs. Once he made his way to the living room, he found his mother yelling at the front door.

"Wait, Barry!" Her light brown hair ruffled as she sighed in resignation. Noticing his arrival, she turned to John shyly. "Ah, John, your friend WAS just here, but he said he forgot something, and he just took off…"

"Don't worry about it, Mom," John replied, shrugging it off. "He does that. I'll be back later." As he walked towards the open door, his mother called out.

"Wait, John! I know you won't do anything rash like Barry will, but just be careful. That incident with the researcher in Lake Valor got me worried recently, so when you inevitably wind up exploring the lake…just be careful."

Don't worry, Mom." He smiled reassuringly. "I'll keep him in line."

The outside air was refreshing as always. Twinleaf was a small town, roughly four houses, which meant it was really just an extension of Sandgem to the west, though no one refered to the towns as the same. There was still fresh snow from several days ago, and John made a quick move to swing his brick-red scarf over his neck before setting out to his neighbor's green-tiled house. As he approached the door, however, he was startled when the door opened of its own accord, and it just happened to land right in his face.

"Argh!" he cried in pain, clutching his face with his left hand as the person behind the door came out to see who he had mutilated. Not surprisingly to John, a young, blond teenager came from behind the door in surprise.

"Oh, crap! Sorry, John! I didn't see you there!"

"What were you doing?!" John yelled, rising to his feet slowly. "Can't you slow down for just a second?"

"Sorry, J. I had to grab something really quick from my house." His eyes grew really big. "Oh, yeah, I nearly forgot! Did you see the TV just a few minutes ago?"

John rolled his eyes expectantly. "I assume you mean the lake thing, right?"

"Yeah!" A bright glint flashed in his eyes. "They said they saw it in Lake Valor, but it was only for a second. It was an amazing shot! Hey, maybe there's something like that in our own lake! We should go look for it, huh, John?"

_I knew this would happen today. Knew I should have stayed at home. _"Sure, why not? Let's go."

"Great! Let's head out there right now!" He immediately bolted past him and to the left, heading to the edge of town. Shaking his head, he put a hand to his face, and was relieved to see that it wasn't swelling or anything. Twisting his cap again, he took off in pursuit of his friend.

_That glint of his though_, he thought to himself. It was the reason he started to refer to his friend as Diamond, because that was how big and sparkly his eyes got when he was truly excited about something. He was a hyper-active little runt most of the time, and he drove John up a wall almost constantly, but they still had a bond that many did not. As he made his way through the thin path of grass and trees, he couldn't help but admire the guy. He would just charge his way into whatever situation he was interested in, while John took time and thought to analyze the best method of approach. John and Barry, therefore, represented two opposites. _Maybe that's why we work._ Quickly, he found his friend next to a small clearing of trees, jumping in ecstatic energy.

"Hey, here! Here's the lake right here!" He ran over to John as he continued to rant. "Maybe we'll find something amazing here! Come on!" Without delay, he grabbed John's arm and dragged his startled friend towards the rippling surface of the lake. Almost immediately, however, he grinded to a halt. "Hey, what's going on over there?"

He turned towards where his friend was pointing, and John could see two people standing at the water's edge, gazing at the water. One of them was an older man, with bleach white hair, standing about a foot and a half taller than his companion. His companion, a young woman roughly John's age, crouched down and stared at the water's surface for a few seconds, as if looking intently for something. Her long, silky black hair reflected in the water, topped by a white stocking cap. Her deep brown eyes blinked, and she finally spoke.

"Professor, I don't see anything out of the ordinary here."

"Hm, perhaps I was mistaken…" He turned his gaze to the young woman. "Did you check for wild Pokémon activity…?"

The two of them started a back-and-forth conversation, and John could hear Diamond whisper into his ear, "Why are you still staring at her?"

"What? No, I'm not."

"Uh-huh, you are. You interested in her?"

"Dude, lay off," he whispered, slapping his friend in the arm.

"Well, I guess I was mistaken, then" the older man replied. "Let's make our way to Sandgem. Come, Rebecca." He turned around and began walking towards the two boys. With muttered apologies, they gave the older man passage. The woman named Rebecca started to follow the man, but stopped before passing them. She turned her head to look at John.

"How long were you standing there, exactly?" she asked.

"Uh…"

She gave a small, mischievous grin. "Good answer. Now, if you will excuse me…" He continued to work up a response as she walked past them towards town. As John watched her go, Diamond glanced at both of them.

"Dude, what was that?" he inquired.

"What do you mean?" John replied, eyes snapping back into focus without even realizing they were out of focus. His eyes met his friend's, and Diamond seemed to be studying them for what felt like eternity. Eventually, he let go of his gaze.

"Whatever." He looked around, and saw something at the water's edge. "Wait, I think they dropped something." John looked and saw the briefcase sitting there by itself in the grass, which he happened to notice was rather tall. "Well, let's go check it out."

John glanced at Diamond like he had grown an extra head. "Are you insane? Wait, don't answer that."

"Come on! It won't be like that time I made you swim the lake because I thought I saw the Red Gyarados on the opposite shore."

"Don't remind me."

"Just do it! Look, we'll be really fast, so the wild Pokémon won't have time to get us."

"That's a stupid plan, and even you know that."

"If you don't come, I'll get it by myself~" He stared at John as he blinked furiously, desperately working on a solution. He sighed loudly.

"Fine, we'll charge it really quickly, and then we bolt out of there. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it." They immediately ran towards the case like madmen, swatting away the long grass that almost obscured their own vision. Eventually, Diamond managed to grab the case.

"Got it! I got the case!" he cried victoriously. He turned to run back…and promptly tripped on a small rock. "Waah!" John quickly ran up to him as Diamond face-planted the ground, causing him to lose his grip on the briefcase before it hit the ground. A loud snap signaled that one of the hinges snapped as it hit the dirt.

"Dude, get up! We can't stay out here in the tall grass!"

"Easy for you to say," he responded, getting to his feet while brushing of the dirt from his exposed knees. "You aren't the one who trips on air half the time."

"You mean that rock, right?"

"Whatever, man!"

"Wait… Did you hear that?" They both stopped in their tracks, listening into the silence for the faint sound. Suddenly, a rustling sound could be heard through the blades of grass.

"Uh-oh…"

Two small, black-and-white-striped birds shot out of the trees and began dive-bombing the innocent teenagers, who immediately raised their arms, trying to swat the birds away.

"Starly!" John announced. "Let's get out of here! Get the case and run!" As Diamond grabbed the case, he stopped, and jiggled it curiously.

"Hey, John! I think there're Poke Balls in here!"

"Who cares?! We can't use them!" Ignoring his friend, Diamond raised the case high with one hand, and brought it down hard on the ground. With a loud snap, the other hinge broke off, and three red and white balls rolled onto the ground.

"I knew it! Pokémon! Maybe they can help us!"

"What?!" John yelled, the Starly currently screeching in his ear.

"Catch!" Despite the small bird hounding his every move, Diamond was able to toss him one of the Poke Balls from the case. Thankfully, John was able to catch it, not thanks to his horrible athletic abilities. He eventually found the button on the center of the capsule, and aimed it at the ground next to him.

"We need your help, whoever you are!" he called, pressing the button. Immediately, a blue light shot out of the button and illuminated the ground where he was pointing. The light quickly began to take the shape of a small chimp. As the light faded, John could see that the chimp's stub of a tail lit up in a small, orange flame, and the little Pokémon jumped in the air, ready for action.

"Chim!" it cried, eying the new human who had summoned it, and its eyes narrowed when it saw the Starly attacking his new human friend. "Chim! Char!" The bird's eyes narrowed as it realized who was challenging it, and it flew a distance away from John and his Pokémon for a bit, ready for a true fight.

"All right, that's better," he muttered. "Now, what to do…?" He eyed his Pokémon savior. _Hm, a Chimchar. Those are pretty rare these days._ He studied the small flame on its stubby tail.

"You're still a newborn, aren't you, Chimchar?"

The chimp nodded silently, still staring intently at the Starly a bit away from him.

_All right, time to think._ He turned his gaze to the Starly, and noticed a darkish spot on the left side of its face. _Ah, slight scarring, probably from the day before last. The pain probably set it off, and we just happened to be in its path. Which means it most likely still causes pain…_ He twisted his hat subconsciously. "All right, Chimchar! Aim your attacks towards the left side of its face!"

"Char!" The little chimp quickly charged his opponent, who quickly flew towards him in a quick Tackle. Twirling in the air as the attack came, he was able to dodge the blow, and succeeded in landing a powerful scratch right on top of the old scars.

"Star…" it moaned, crashing into the ground as it lost the energy to remain airborne. It stumbled awkwardly to its feet, clearly dazed from the blow. It tried to charge the Chimchar again, but, after noticing the glaze in its beady eyes, John took the chance.

"Ok, Chimchar, just push it into the water." The Pokémon ran over to the little Starly and roughly shoved the bird off of the grass and into the chilly waters of the lake. As soon as the bird hit the water, its eyes widened in terror.

"Star!" It cried, flapping its wings furiously, trying to escape its icy prison. Eventually, it succeeded, and it let out another cry, signaling the retreat plan to its friend, and the two birds flew away from the lake.

"Whew… We're ok…" Looking around, he could see Diamond watching the birds fly off, with a blue penguin-looking Pokémon at his feet. He turned and looked at his own Pokémon, who was looking at him with a victorious grin.

"Chimchar!" A smile crept up on his face then.

"Great job, buddy! You really nailed it!"

"Woo-hoo, that was awesome!" Turning around, John saw Diamond walking up to him, his little penguin friend trying to mimic his footsteps. "You rocked out there! But my Piplup was way better than your Chimchar!" The Piplup puffed out his chest in pride.

"Yeah, right."

"You know what, though?" Diamond asked, glancing down at his new friend. "These aren't our Pokémon, right? I hope they won't get mad at us, will they?"

Before John could answer, a familiar voice called out to them.

"Oh, thank goodness!" The young woman from earlier came jogging up to them. "You have the briefcase! I thought for sure it had been…" She stopped as she looked at the scene: two teenagers covered in scratches, a destroyed briefcase next to them, and two of the professor's Pokémon at their sides, clearly just in combat. "Wait… Did you actually use these Pokémon?!"

"Well, there's a story about that…" Diamond managed to mutter.

"Oh my god, I'm dead! I'm so dead when Prof. Rowan hears about this!" She ran forward and grabbed the two pieces of the briefcase. "I'll just take these then…wait, no!" She whirled on John. "No, I'm not going alone! You two are coming with me, and you will explain what happened here!" She scooped the remaining Poke Ball off the ground, cradling it in her hand as she tried to brush off the dirt, and carried it and the tattered briefcase away.

"Come on…" John beckoned to his friend, and the two of them walked in pursuit of the enraged female.

They had walked half of the way back to Twinleaf when they heard the girl talking to the professor. A chill ran through their hearts as the old man looked behind her to look at them, his face stern as always. He walked past Rebecca and stood in front of them, his gaze never wavering.

"You two. Am I correct in assuming you were the ones who used my Pokémon?"

"Yes, sir…" Diamond answered. "We're really sorry…" He held the Piplup's Poke Ball in his hand, outstretched. "If you want them back, here you go. We're really sorry…"

His eyes widened in surprise.

"Hm! How big of you…" He stepped closer to him. "Can I see your Pokémon, please?"

"Of course…" The Piplup walked over to the Professor, and he just seemed to stare into the penguin's eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Suddenly, he spoke again.

"You there, your Pokémon as well, please?"

"Ok…" The little Chimchar walked over to the Professor, who administered the same odd staring test to his Pokémon as well. The little chimp stared right back at the Professor, and after several seconds, the professor began to speak.

"Hm… Yes… I see… That's how it is…" He turned around and started to walk away from the group. "Rebecca, we're returning to Sandgem!"

"But, sir!" she replied, startled. "What about the Pokémon?"

"Hm… We'll talk about that when they come to visit later. Now, come. We must be heading back." As he walked off, Rebecca sighed in resignation.

"Ok, I guess I'll be seeing you at the lab, then…" She was about to walk off, but John decided to stop her.

"Wait, Rebecca, right?"

She stopped. "Yes"

He twisted his cap again.

"Again, I'm really sorry. ** We're** really sorry, I mean." She smiled knowingly.

"I know that. Sorry for snapping at you. I'll explain that later. Come by in a little bit." She turned around and proceeded to follow the professor towards the next town.

"Well, I don't know what that was about…" Diamond commented, looking at his Piplup. "But at least he didn't yell at us, or whatever…" He looked at John. "I guess we should just go home for now…"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"I see. That's what happened to you two."

"Yep. Turns out Diamond's quick thinking really CAN solve problems…as long as the problem in question was caused by him in the first place."

John was at home now, sitting at the bar counter in his kitchen while his mom tended to his Pokémon, who was currently slurping on a hot tomato soup out of a bowl. The little Chimchar was having the time of his life, being rubbed with a special cream while cupping the bowl with both hands.

"Chim…"

"You know it wasn't his fault, John…" she reminded him, moving to turn off the sink next to her as she finished applying the cream. "He was just trying to help."

He set down his self-concocted smoothie that he had been drinking.

"I get that. I guess I wasn't prepared to be ambushed so badly." He glanced at his new buddy, who had just finished his soup and was now running around the living room in pure joy. A smile crept up his face. "But I think it was worth it."

His mom watched the little chimp run, and saw the grin on her son's face as he watched him go. Eventually, she smiled also.

"Well, since you two seem better, do you think he can make the trip to Sandgem?"

He turned to look at her oddly.

"But, Mom, there are Pokémon…" He trailed off as he realized what he was saying. "Wait…I have a Pokémon now, don't I?"

"Yep, things have changed." She walked over to the TV and sat on the couch, flipping through the channels. "You should probably go now, while it's still light out. I'm sure Prof. Rowan will be happy to see you so soon."

"You ready, Chimchar?"

"Char!" The Pokémon leapt to John's side, raising his hand with a grin on his face. Returning the high-five, John started out of the house and towards the north, where the trail to Sandgem began.

As they walked along the road, Chimchar looked around nervously, occasionally raising his fists in a battle stance when a rustling sound was heard. As the trees grew steadily thinner, the chimp slowly relaxed, lowering his fists. Noticing this, John couldn't help but quietly raise a hand behind the little chimp and quickly nudge him in the back. The startled leap was exactly what John wanted. The fight response involving his claws was not. Thankfully, the stinging pain had mostly subsided by the time John was able to see the white-roofed building: the Professor's Lab. Clutching his hand in slight pain, he could see the woman from earlier standing outside the door to the lab.

"Hey, glad you could make it!" she called out, walking towards him. "You're surprisingly quick…" She noticed him clutching his hand. "Are you ok?"

"We had a simple misunderstanding. We cleared it up." Chimchar looked at the ground in embarrassment.

"Char…"

"Well, ok, then. Let's keep moving." She turned towards the building next to her. "This is the Lab where we work. The Professor is waiting on the two of you, so let's head on inside." John walked up to the door, but stopped before touching the door handle, hesitating. Rebecca looked confused. "Is there a problem?"

"I have a bad feeling…" Almost instantly, the door swung open, and the person behind it slammed directly into him, knocking him to the ground. The culprit skidded to a halt in response.

"Ow, ow…" Diamond quickly realized who he had smashed. "Oh, hey, John! Guess what? That old man isn't as crazy as he is totally out there! Well, I gotta dash, but I'll see ya later!" With that, Diamond took off at what looked like Mach 2, occasionally skipping in happiness. Rebecca turned her head between him and John in confusion.

"Uh… Are you ok…?"

"Yeah…" Chimchar looked at him worriedly as he rose to his feet. "I think so."

"Well…moving on… Let's go inside…"

The inside of the lab wasn't bustling like John had expected it to be. Only a few scientists were in the building, each one typing stuff on rows of computers on the left side of the building. On the right, someone was talking with another scientist over the phone, discussing some kind of migration pattern to the east.

"Ah, good, you've arrived!" Turning, John saw the older man Rowan at the far end of the room, shuffling through papers on his cedar desk. "I apologize for the clutter. I've been very busy lately." Rising from his chair, he walked around his desk to stand in front of John. "So, how was your first journey with that Chimchar of yours?"

"Well, sir, it was very nice…" He quickly read the subtext. "Wait… Are you saying…?"

"That's right. That Chimchar is yours to keep." He smiled warmly. "Congratulations."

"Wow, really?! Did you hear that, Chimchar?"

"Char!" Bending down, the two of them exchanged another high-five, grins all around.

"Well, now, what should I call you…?" He glanced at the stubby flame on the chimp's tail. "I'll call you Inferno. That fire of yours will be big someday, you know~"

"Chim." Inferno puffed his chest in pride, clearly enjoying the promise of his new name and Trainer.

"Now…" the old man interjected. "I do have a favor to ask of you and your new Pokémon, if you're willing."

"Of course, Professor."

"As I'm sure you know, I study the nature of Pokémon, specifically the nature of evolution. What is evolution? How does it work, and why do some Pokémon evolve while others don't? These are the questions I have dedicated my life to answer." He began pacing back and forth as he continued. "That is what I study, and yet I am nowhere closer to answering them than when I begun! It's baffling!" He reached into his white coat pocket, pulling out a small, red, rectangular device. "This is my favor: travel all over this region of Sinnoh. Explore its mysteries. Fill this Pokedex with the knowledge you acquire. Perhaps you will find what I have not. Chase the answers to the questions that have plagued me all these years."

John held his head a little higher.

"It would be my honor, sir."

"Excellent!" His face lit up. "I just knew you would say that!" As John took the Pokedex from the old man's hands, he couldn't help but admire the slick design of the Poke Ball on the front.

"Thank you, sir."

"Congratulations, uh…" Rebecca stammered for a minute. "I'm sorry, but what's your name, again?"

"John," he replied, looking at her now. "John Parker."

"Got it. John… Anyway, congrats! I got my Pokedex about a week ago, and was just about to head off when Prof. Rowan came back from Kanto and wanted to check the lake."

"Really?" He couldn't help but grin slightly. "Does that mean you'll be shadowing me all the time?"

Her eyes seemed to almost twinkle, a mischievous grin flashing for almost a millisecond.

"Do you want me to?"

"Do you want to tag along?" he retorted.

"Chim?"

Her gaze lowered as she considered the offer.

"Sure, why not? We each could use a helping hand in a project this big."

"Chimchar!" Immediately, the little Pokémon ran over to the girl and hugged her leg.

"Oh… Thank you, Chim…Inferno. We'll be great together!" She turned to John again. "Meet me at the Pokémon Center next door. I want to talk to you about some things before we go." As she left, Rowan smiled.

"Ah, youth! If only I still had some… Now John, go out into this world, and see what it has in store for you!"

"I will, professor!" John replied, heading out the door. "Thanks again!"

As he stepped into the evening air, he stood there for a few moments, basking in the wind of his new adventure.

"Hey, are you dozing off already?" Jarred from his moment, he walked over to where she was standing, next to the door of the red-roofed building known as a Pokémon Center. "Come on, let's head inside."

The Pokémon Center had several people conversing, talking with the nurse on the far counter, people taking the escalator to the second and third floors, where the temporary apartments were. The walls were specked with the occasional TV, on which the evening news was currently playing. Rebecca was standing at the little corner to the right of the Pokémon Recovery Counter, which was lined with PCs for Trainers' use.

"Ok, in order to be a Trainer, you have to fill out an online form with the Pokémon League."

"Really? That's new…"

"You're right, it is new. Since Sinnoh is currently in the process of becoming a member of the Pokémon Union, they started incorporating key regulations. One of those is the registration of all Trainers."

"Why would they do that?" John inquired, head cocked slightly. "That seems like a breach in Trainer privacy, right?"

"It's mainly for organizational reasons. Pokémon Trainers are different than Pokémon Breeders and even casual Pokémon pet owners, like your mom. The Union likes to keep official records as to who's who. Luckily, that's the biggest thing that's changed, so it's really no big deal."

"Ok…" He climbed into one of the chairs as Inferno hopped up on his shoulder, while Rebecca glanced down his other shoulder. "Let's see here…"

Several hundred miles away, atop a high plateau, two people were sitting at the top floor of the Pokémon League building. One of them had on a red shirt with white trim and jeans, with a red baseball cap. He glanced at the computer screen in front of them.

"I'm impressed, Cynthia. I didn't think the program would be up this quickly."

The blonde woman beside him nodded.

"We just want this to happen quickly, before anything odd happens."

"Why so paranoid?"

She turned to face the screen, avoiding the young man's gaze.

"I'm paranoid because whenever you people show up in a region, things happen. Just look at Johto and Hoenn."

"I'll have you know that Hoenn's crisis happened well before I arrived there. We're certainly not responsible for all that."

She cringed.

"I know that." She sighed. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. I guess I'm just stressed these days."

"Take a few days off. Relax somewhere interesting, like Eterna. I hear the Pokémon Statue there holds impressive secrets."

"You're just reading out of the tourist pamphlet we designed two years ago, aren't you?"

Of course, I'm not!" he exclaimed, slipping the pamphlet back into his pocket. "Why would I do that?"

She shook her head.

"At least you're sociable." Suddenly, her computer chimed. "Oh…? I think we've got a hit."

"Huh, how about that?" Cynthia looked at the screen as a completed form flashed on the screen, sporting a picture of a young man with dark, blackish-blue hair and a bright red cap.

"Well, looks like the system works," the man announced proudly. "All right, let's close the site down until tomorrow, then. We don't want to crash your servers tonight, so we'll just let this guy's form pass for now."

"Got it. Hey…" She leaned closer to the screen. "It says he's applying for a professor's pass."

"Really…?" He took the time to look at the screen as well, studying his credentials. "Interesting. Single mother, dad passed away when he was little, no siblings. Sixteen years old, just received his first Pokémon from Prof. Rowan… A Chimchar… How interesting… Does it say where he's from?"

"This John Parker seems to be from Twinleaf Town."

"Ok, well, a Professor's Pass grants him full range of activity with the PC network, as well as partner Pokémon privileges like other Trainers."

"Sounds good."

The man glanced at the clock.

"I'm afraid I must be heading elsewhere, Cynthia. I'll be seeing you later."

"Nice to meet you, Red!"

As he walked out of the room, he pulled out his new Poketch that he got from Jublife. Pressing some buttons on the screen, he whispered into the mic.

"Did you get that?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A sea of black.

That was all John could see. He seemed to be floating in this eternal void, as far as he could tell, anyway.

"Hello!" he called. "What is this? Where am I?"

The void did not reply. Instead, he felt as if his very existence was draining out of his body and into this void he was in.

"Hello! Anyone… What's going on…" He quickly began to lose consciousness as the darkness continued to draw from his soul. He felt himself slip away as he continued to try calling out to the void.

"Wait…"

"Piplup…"

"Be careful, Penguin. You don't to frighten him out of sleep, do you?"

"Pip… Piplup…"

His eyes opened groggily, barely opening at all at first. He could see a little blue penguin Pokémon slightly nudging his left arm from the floor next to his cot. She seemed genuinely concerned that he wasn't awake yet.

"Well, good morning, you…" As John rose slowly upright in his cot, the little Pokémon grinned in triumph.

"Piplup." While the Piplup waddled back to her trainer, John took the time to recall the events of yesterday. He had applied for his professor's pass online, and within 5 minutes, a light blue card was spat out of a machine next to it, showing the picture he had submitted as well as his personal information. Pulling it out of his pocket, he glanced at the Poke Ball on the upper right corner of the card, his proof that he had a professor's pass, which granted him full access to the Pokémon Storage network and full party Pokémon capabilities. After this was done, he had decided to contact his mom.

"You got a Pokedex?! That's fantastic, John!"

"Thanks, Mom. I'll probably be heading out to Jublife tomorrow morning."

"Before you go, though, I have something to give you. Can you wait for me?"

"Not a problem, Mom. See you tomorrow!"

He had taken a makeshift bed in one of the Trainer rest floors, where each and every Pokémon Center provides free, temporary, apartment-like service to all Trainers who are passing by. His little Chimchar had taken to sleeping right next to him in the bed, but he had to be returned to his Poke Ball after he had almost set the bed on fire. He pulled out the Poke Ball and tossed it onto the ground.

Inferno had still been sleeping as well, and was found continuing his sleep when he came out of the capsule. Noticing this, the Piplup sighed.

"Pip, pip…" She slowly went over and began nudging him into alertness as Rebecca handed him his bag.

"Good morning, sleepy."

"Morning."

"I think your mom's downstairs already. I think she has a change of clothes for you."

"Good. I need them…"

As he rode down the escalator, he couldn't help but sort through his thoughts.

_What on Earth was that dream about? Nothing happened, really, but that's what worries me the most. Not like I can figure this out right now, though, so let's worry about the major things right now. I'll figure this out later._ Reaching the first floor, he saw his mom in a chair on the opposite end of the room. She got up from the chair, holding a stack of clothes and two objects John couldn't recognize.

"John! You're finally awake! Congrats on the Pokedex!"

"Thanks, Mom." After a brief hug, he carefully put the clothes in his big pocket in his backpack. "What are these blue things?"

"These," she answered proudly, "are the latest versions of the Town Map that was released. Go ahead, pull the two handles apart!"

Doing as instructed with one of them, they revealed a thin computer screen unrolling in between them. On the screen was a real-time map of the Sinnoh region, with a red dot blinking over a town to the west labeled as Sandgem.

"That's really cool," Rebecca remarked. "Mine's still paper."

"This is fantastic, but why do I have two?" he asked.

"Well, Barry was supposed to get one from his mom as well," she admitted, "but he hasn't called yet, so we were hoping you could find him faster."

He sighed silently to himself.

"I'll do what I can." She sighed as well.

"Well, have fun, John! See the world for me."

She began walking out the door, but not before taking one more glance at her only son, who was silently waving. He continued to stare at the door as Rebecca returned from the front desk holding a couple of granola bars.

"For the trip," she said. "We should stop by the Poke Mart next door before we leave. I don't think you have any Poke Balls, do you?"

"Nope. It would be nice to have some, though."

A few minutes later, John walked out of the blue building, sun well above the horizon, holding several miniature Poke Balls. As he placed them in his bag, he glanced at his Chimchar, who returned his gaze with silent eyes.

"Let's get going," he announced. "Don't want to burn anymore daylight."

And so they began. Two trainers and their Pokémon set out to the north of Sandgem, heading into the journey that would change their lives forever.

The trail seemed to wind around and around, taking up as much space as it possible could. After about 15 minutes, they stopped to take a break, mainly because Penguin was beginning to fall behind.

"Pip… Pip…" she moaned, waddling over to Rebecca's feet and plopping its butt down quickly.

"Come on, Penguin…" her Trainer replied, a small grin on her face as she watched her Pokémon sit down. "You're doing great…"

"Piplup…"

Looking around, all John could see was the dense row of trees on either side of them. Luckily, his new map showed that they were heading the right way, and showed that the trip to Jublife was halfway over. Eventually, he noticed an alcove in the trees, and he thought he could hear movement in the grass that covered it.

"Hey, Rebecca… I think we have some company." Following his gaze, she saw what he was looking at.

"Nice find, John. Good eyes there." She glanced at her exhausted Pokémon. "Tell you what: how about you get the first shot at it? I think Penguin here needs a little more time to rest."

"Agreed." He looked his Pokémon, who was already psyching himself for action. "You ready for this?"

"Chim. Chimchar!"

"Let's do this." The little chimp stood next to him, paws raised and ready to fight. John glanced at the rustling grass.

_Hm… It's not much… Not a big Pokémon, all right. From the pattern, it's probably a bird. In these parts, that could only mean…_ "Inferno, try to draw that Pokémon out of the grass."

The little chimp ran into the grass. "Chim, chim." After a few seconds, a screech could be heard as the Pokémon in question leapt out of the grass.

"Star!"

"Chim!" the chimp cried, scared out of his mind. "Chimchar!'

_What the… _Glancing at the Starly who was attacking him, his face paled. _Oh, crap, look who we found._ Scars and all, this Starly was the same one that had attacked him the other day. _That's not good. What to do… We need to stop it from buzzing around his head all day._ "Inferno, knock it down!"

"Chim?"

"Try climbing the tree and jumping it!"

"Chim!" Recovering from the initial shock of the encounter, Inferno quickly scaled the nearest tree, and the Starly fought hard to plow through the foliage to strike the chimp. Luckily, the little bird was unable to, and Inferno wasted no time in leaping out of the tree and grabbing hold of the Starly.

"Star…" It didn't take long for the bird to collapse under the weight, the two Pokémon tumbling to the ground. Inferno rose to his feet quicker.

"Remember: aim for the scars, but don't hit so hard this time."

"Chim." Wasting no time, the Pokémon landed a few scratches on the bird's body, right in the same spot as before. Unfortunately, the little bird wasn't please by the same kind of injury.

"Starly!" The little bird reared its head and slammed into the chimp before he could land another hit.

"Chim!"

_Crap, this is happening so fast… Gotta make a move quickly... _"Inferno, pin it down!"

Inferno quickly grabbed the Starly's head with both hands, trying to drive it to the ground. The bird wasn't letting up, though, and it looked like Inferno was going to lose the struggle. However, the little chimp had other plans.

"Chimchar!" The Pokémon reared its head and blew at the little Starly. However, instead of air, a few bursts of fire erupted on the bird's face.

"Yeah!"

"Ember attack!" Rebecca exclaimed. "Looks like Chimchar's growing stronger already…"

Starly recoiled backwards, eyes beginning to glaze over in pain. Noticing this, John seized the opportunity. Reaching into his belt, he pulled out one of his new Poke Balls.

"Inferno, move!" As the chimp let go of the bird, he twirled away from one of the bird's Tackles, and John threw the ball at the Starly, who was absorbed into the capsule with a flash of blue light. The ball closed shut, and fell to the ground. It began to twitch. Once… Twice… Thrice… Click!

"We did it! We caught a Pokémon, Inferno!"

"Chim!" With a victorious high-five, the duo rejoiced in their successful capture. Walking over, he picked up the Poke Ball containing his new companion.

"Welcome to the team…Raptor."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Sidestep the Tackle, Penguin!"

"Pip, pip!" Rebecca's Piplup quickly swerved in the air as the Shinx charged towards the little Pokémon, just barely missing her. Wasting no time, Penguin completed its spin and blew a stream of bubbles at the enemy Pokémon, who recoiled from the close proximity to the attack. Apparently, one of the bubbles got in his eyes, and Rebecca saw her chance.

"Let's do this!" She threw her first Poke Ball at the cowering Shinx, and after three clicks, it was captured. "Yeah, great work, Penguin!"

"Pip, pip…" she replied, waddling over to the Poke Ball containing her new friend. Behind Rebecca, John was clapping.

"Good work, you two. That was great!" He glanced down at his two Pokémon next to him. "Hey, don't do that…" he muttered, trying to separate his Chimchar and new Starly, before they clobbered each other. The two of them still held a certain grudge after the battle, and it seemed this Starly really did have a vicious streak to it. Rebecca couldn't help but smirk as the three of them bickered every couple of seconds along the trail. _Boys will be boys,_ she mused, _even if the boys in question are Pokémon._ She looked at the Poke Ball that Piplup handed to her.

"Come on out, Gamma Ray!" In a flash of blue, the little Shinx appeared next to the Piplup, a grin crossing his face.

"Shi!" it cried, and Penguin immediately hugged him, much to his apparent surprise.

"Piplup!"

"Shinx…"

"Don't worry, Gamma Ray," she said, giggling, "She's just a hugger."

"Shinx."

"Ok," John announced, walking over to them as his Pokémon continued to bicker behind him. "We're almost to Jublife. The Center will be the third right, directly on the corner."

"Shouldn't be hard to find, then."

"Yep." A slap from behind him caught his attention. "Hey, what did I tell you two?!"

The Pokémon immediately froze, each one pointing at the other.

"Star!"

"Chim!"

"We're almost there. Just be patient." Right on cue, they could see the towering buildings of the city. "Here it is. Jublife City."

The place was easily ten times more massive than Sandgem and Twinleaf combined. Towering building all around, people bustling everywhere they looked, it was the biggest center of trade and communication in the region.

"I've been here once before," Rebecca said. "I was here with my dad when we moved here, when I was about two. I think the buildings seem even bigger now than back then…" She was still gazing at the tops of the towers when she noticed that she was nearly trampling a little Pokémon. "Oh, god! I'm sorry!"

The little red Pokémon had ran smack into her leg and had fallen on the ground. As it rose to its feet, John pulled out his Dex.

"Hey, I think that's a Magby."

"Really?" She glanced at the signature tuff on the Pokémon's burnt-red head. "I didn't think you could see Magby around here."

"You shouldn't…" he replied, scrolling through its page in his Pokedex. "Not on this side of Sinnoh, anyway…"

"Are you lost, little guy?"

"Magby…" His eyes drooped as it replied.

"Aw…" She pulled out her bag and began rummaging through it. "Let's see if I have any food for you…" As soon as she set her bag on the ground, the Magby's eyes grew huge. In the blink of an eye, it blew a few Embers in Rebecca's direction. "Ah!" Taking advantage of her involuntary movement backwards, he grabbed the bag and took off into the crowd of people.

"Hey!" John turned to his two Pokémon as well as her own. "Find that Magby! We'll catch up with you."

"Star!" The four Pokémon ran into the crowd in hot pursuit, running in between the people's legs.

"Come on!" he responded, pulling Rebecca to her feet and they took off. They pushed past people constantly; sometimes it was hard to see the little stub of Inferno's flame through the sea of passerby. They bolted past the Pokémon Center to their right, past the center of town, and followed the Pokémon into an alley to their left.

The two teenagers breathed a sigh of relief as they escaped the confines of the crowd, but were shocked to see no signs of any Pokémon in the dark stretch of road in front of them.

"Hey, where'd they go?" John asked aloud.

"Penguin! Shinx? Magby? Where's you all go?"

"Shinx!" "Chimchar!"

All four of their Pokémon appeared from behind a green metal trash bin, covered in bits of trash.

"You lost him?"

"Piplup…" Penguin drooped her head in shame.

"Wait a minute…" John muttered.

"What's up?"

"This doesn't make any sense," he replied. "This is a one-way alley, with no possible hiding places. Why would the Magby hide here, where the only escape routes available would be Pokémon sized?"

"Pokémon are smarter than a lot of people," she said mater-of-factly. "You'd be surprised."

"Yeah, I would, except Magby are baby Pokémon, not as developed as other Pokémon. After hatching from their Eggs, they wouldn't have that kind of thought process yet, not by their own accord." He turned to the row of trash bags next to him. "Isn't that right, kid?" He kicked one of the bags hard, and a small cry was heard.

"Ow! Watch it!" A young man popped out from behind the bags, with Rebecca's white bag slung over his shoulder. "Damn it, I was so close, too…"

"Who are you?" she inquired. "Give me my bag back!" The kid only smirked.

"You don't need to know who I am, now do you?" He snapped his fingers, and a Magby leapt out from his hiding place. "Mega Man and I will just walk away peacefully here, and we'll all be good."

"Not going to happen," John replied darkly. His Chimchar and Starly stood in front of him as he continued. "You and me. One-on-one, right now."

"How about that?" the kid chuckled. "Your boyfriend here's got some attitude to him." He brushed his dirty, blond hair out of his eyes. "You got a deal, dude. We'll smash you good."

John bent down to talk with his crew.

"I think Inferno should do this one."

"Star!" Raptor cried indignantly.

"Magby's a Fire-type, Raptor. I don't want you to get burned and lose because of that, all right?"

"Star…" John glanced at his Chimchar.

"You ready, buddy?"

"Chim."

"Let's go." He rose to his feet, and as Inferno took his place in front of John, Raptor went over to Penguin.

"Ready? Go!" The kid called out to his Magby. "Start with Smog, Mega Man!"

"Magby!" The little red Pokémon blew out several puffs of dark purple smoke at Inferno, blinding him as the smoke expanded.

"Don't open your eyes!" John reminded him. "Follow the heat and Scratch!"

"Chim." The chimp Pokémon squeezed his eyes shut, and quickly turned and slashed at what appeared to be empty space. The cry of an injured Pokémon confirmed that it was not.

"Turn the Smog against him with Ember!" After Inferno blew out some Embers, the air seemed to light up in flames and all the gas combusted in a matter of seconds. Both Pokémon and their Trainers recoiled from the heat, and when it simmered down, the trainer issued more commands.

"Knock him down, Mega Man!" The Magby instantly bolted towards the trash bags, and started knocking them down as Inferno tried to pursue.

"Don't follow!" Inferno grinded to a halt.

_What to do? This Magby knows the terrain better than Inferno ever could, and Inferno can't take the blast from a move like that more than once. I need to get a leg up, but how? He's too high up… Wait a minute… That's it!_ "Inferno, land some Embers in the trash bin!"

"Chimchar!" He started to blow some Embers in the Magby's direction, and he and his Trainer instantly knew what was about to happen.

"Mega Man, get off of there!"

Too late. As soon as the Embers went into the bin, all the escaping gas erupted in flames like the Smog did, and Magby was knocked off as the blast engulfed him. However, Inferno had taken cover behind a discarded metal box, and was unaffected, while Mega Man fell to the ground and didn't get up immediately.

"Mega Man!" the kid cried, his cool demeanor completely gone. "Get up, buddy!" When the Pokémon didn't respond, he sighed, his hair falling back in front of his eyes. "Ok, you win." He took Rebecca's bag off his shoulder and threw it at him. "Here's your bag, you."

"Why DID you take my bag, anyway?" she inquired. "What was all that about?"

"Does it matter?" he snapped, cradling his unconscious Pokémon in his arms. "You won. It's over. Now, get out of here." As she looked at the damaged stat of her bag, she stopped him again.

"Wait!" Startled at the fierceness in her voice, he stopped again. "If you really wanted medicine, you could have just asked."

"Wh-what?" He spat out a fake laugh. "Yeah, sure. You would have also given me a Poke Ball to keep Mega Man in, so he doesn't have to get sick all the time, right? Yeah, right. Don't lie to me."

"Hey, what do you mean?" John asked, returning his Chimchar to his Poke Ball. "We're always willing to help." As he stared at the young man's cold eyes, they seemed to soften as he realized that John was serious.

"Wait… Do you really mean that?"

"Yeah, we do," Rebecca replied, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "We'll help you out, but only if you explain yourself."

"He looked at the two people he had just met, and his eyes seemed to light up.

"You're serious? God, yes! Thank you! Let's head to the Center first, and I'll tell you what I can." He started walking away, and as John and Rebecca followed him, he turned around while walking backwards. "By the way, as a much more formal introduction, my name is Luke. Welcome to my city."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"There you are, little guy."

"Magby…"

"You'll be okay, Mega Man."

The three of them were inside the Pokémon Center, John and Luke feeding Magby some spare Oran Berries that the lady running the building gave them, while Rebecca was reorganizing the contents of her bag. Eventually, Magby smiled.

"Ma…"

"That's a good sign," John remarked. "He should be okay now."

"That's a relief…" He glanced at each of them. "So, where should I start?"

"First of all," John answered calmly, "Who are you, exactly?"

"Well, my name is Luke, like I told you already."

"How old are you?"

Luke closed his eyes.

"I'm fifteen, as of a few weeks ago."

"Congratulations."

He smirked.

"Yeah, it's not as cool when you're a kid who lives on the streets all the time and doesn't really have the time or the ability to make friends…"

"You mean you don't have any parents?"

Luke sighed. He glanced at his Magby, who read his emotions in an instant and nodded.

"My dad left me when I was little. I don't remember him that much, really, just that he was kind and gentle. But when my mom passed away, he grew cold." He blinked several times. "He shoved me away not long after that, and left the house in the middle of the night. When I woke up the next morning, he was gone, not even bothering to leave behind a note."

"Woah…" Rebecca paused from her work. "Sounds pretty heartless of him."

"Yeah, well, something in him snapped when she died. He was distraught, but it seemed he hated being upset for so long, and I guess he just gave up on it all." He sighed. "But that doesn't matter now. When he left, I, naturally, couldn't pay for the house, and since I didn't want to be taken away by the police or anything, I bailed. I just took off, and before I knew it, I found myself in Jublife City. After a while, I found my friend Mega Man, here, and we found a way to fend for ourselves. We've been here for…about a year now."

"So, the way you took my bag, that was how you would steal food and medicine?"

"That's right." He glanced at Rebecca as he continued to speak. "My main issue about the whole affair, though, was to never harm my targets. I only had Mega Man use Ember to scare you away from the bag. He never aimed at you directly. We don't want to be common criminals, now do we?"

"I guess not…"

"Well, that's it from me," he announced, placing his hands on his legs and rising upright in his chair. "That's all I can really say. Again, I'm sorry. It was uncalled for and all…"

"No, no, you're fine. You had your reasons." Suddenly, John remembered something. "Hey, can I ask you one more thing?"

"You name it."

"You seem to know this city really well. Have you seen a blond kid, roughly my age, extremely hyper-active?"

"Hm… Wait, I know!" He turned to his Magby. "Do you remember that runt we tried to mug earlier, but he just plowed right on past you like you weren't even there?"

"Magby."

"That sounds like him…" John mused. Do you know where he went?"

"I think he was saying something about a Poketch contest, and then heading off to Oreburgh City. That's all I heard."

"That's all I need. Thank you." He turned towards Rebecca. "Are you ready to go now?"

"Yeah, that should be everything." As she rose to her feet, she looked at Luke. "Hey, do you want to come with us? We're out to explore Sinnoh for Professor Rowan of Sandgem, and I think it would be good if you came with us." He shook his head.

"You'll have to forgive me when I decline. I just can't leave Jublife yet."

"Why not?" she inquired. "Clearly living here isn't benefiting you. Come with us."

"I can't. About a week ago, I saw a young woman walk through here, long, strawberry-blonde hair, saying something about Lake Verity. She was talking over her Poketch, saying something about the Galactic Corporation coming this way soon."

"Galactic Corp?" Rebecca looked confused. "What would they be doing all the way over here?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "It worries me, though, so I need to stay behind and figure it out."

"Can't we help?"

"Trust me, this is my fight, not yours."

"You got a history with them or something?" John asked.

"Something like that." Magby dropped from the table, ready to walk again. "Listen, thank you guys again for the supplies. It means a ton. I hope we see each other again, hopefully under much more pleasant circumstances."

"Agreed." With that, Luke and his Magby walked out of the Center and into the city air. As if on cue, a loud banging sound could be heard from the escalators. John turned towards the source of the noise as his friend Diamond came tumbling down, face-planting the tile floor as a spectacular finale to his amazing tumble.

"Ow! Ow! Ow…that hurt…" As he rose to his feet, he saw the two of them sitting at the adjacent table, Rebecca stifling some laughs and John sighing loudly. "Hey, John! Long time no see, huh?"

"Can't you even remember to tie your shoes, at least?" He pointed at Diamond's disheveled tennis shoes, whose laces were splayed out as far apart as possible.

"Hey, I forget sometimes! Anyway, I got something really cool while I was here yesterday!" He pulled out a blue watch. "Here you go, buddy."

"Woah, Diamond!" he exclaimed, realizing at once what it was. "You just found a Poketch?!"

"Well, not really. See, there was a promotion to get a free one, a simple quiz, but I did it so fast I think I did it twice by mistake, so I got two." He raised his left arm proudly, flashing his identical Poketch. "We're cool now, huh, John?"

"Wow, I'm impressed, Diamond, this time in a good way." He reached into his pocket. "Speaking of which, your mom asked me to give this to you." He handed him the other Town Map he had in his bag.

"Oh, right on! The latest Town Map! Mom is awesome."

"Contact her right now," Rebecca reminded him sternly. "She's getting worried about you."

"Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting!" As he ran towards the computer corner, John rose to his feet.

"We should probably find some place to eat lunch at. I'm starving." As the two of them walked back into the bustling city, he couldn't help but wonder about Luke.

"Nope, I can't find the trail anymore."

Matthew froze in his tracks.

"What do you mean you lost the trail?"

"I don't see it anywhere. There are no footprints, no scent coming off for my Mightiena to find, nothing at all."

The quartet had been hiking for a good half-hour that day before the trail started to grow thin, and now, a good hour's travel into the perilous mountains of Hoenn, they were left with nothing. The young man, Sam, bent down in the layer of soot coming in from Mt. Chimney nearby to comfort his Mightyena, who looked rather dismayed that the trail had gone cold. Matthew brushed his short, light-brown hair from his eyes as he pondered his next move. _He's right. The trail is completely gone. However... I could, in theory, sense where they are... No,_ he stopped himself, _that's a horrible idea. I couldn't hide that kind of power from three people in such proximity, could I?_ He rose to his feet. "I'm contacting my friend back home. Cover me." He pulled out his Pokenav he got from Devon a couple months ago (it felt like years now) and dialed the third number in his list. As he did so, his companions formed a three-point circle around him, as practiced, to guard the caller from a possible attack, at least long enough for Matthew to send out his Pokemon without issue. The phone picked up within two rings.

"Yes?"

"Commander Red," he replied firmly, using the codename they had rehearsed. "We have a problem."

"Do you have them?"

"Negative, Commander Red. In fact, we seem to have lost them..."

Silence took over briefly.

"You can RE-find them, correct?"

"I can, sir, but..." He dropped his voice to barely a whisper. "It would need your approval, sir."

"Do whatever is necessary, Commander Ruby. We cannot allow Team Magma to make off with the super-ancient Pokémon. I expect you to accept the consequences of how far you go to achieve this goal. Do you copy?"

"I copy, Commander Red. Commander Ruby signing out."

"Wait one moment."

"Yes?"

There was a slight pause. "I want to keep you informed. We have begun moving members to the Sinnoh region."

"Do suspect trouble, sir?"

"I do. In fact, these next few weeks could very well be the most important weeks of our lives. Commanders Gold and Silver are docking as we speak, and Commanders Sapphire and Emerald will be joining them in a few days. Naturally, you are exempt from this assignment, but once you accomplish this task, I want you in Sinnoh as soon as possible. Agreed?"

"Acknowledged and understood."

"See you on the other side, Commander Ruby."

Clicking the power button on his Nav, Matthew bent down at the spot where the trail supposedly died. He dug his hand in the dirt, letting it fall through his fingers as he began to connect with it.

"Do you have something, Matt?" the youngest one, Max, inquired.

"What I need right now, Max, is quiet. Thank you."

"Is this going to be that weird ability of yours?" asked Sam.

"It's not exactly an ability…" Matthew muttered. "I have an impressive hearing ability, which means I can feel the footprints of people moving at least a couple miles away."

"Whatever you say, bro," Sam's brother, Ryan, responded. "Just hurry. We don't have much time."

"I know that," he snapped. Bending over, he dipped his ear to the ground, but not letting it touch. While he did so, he closed his eyes, blocking out all background noise, and began to focus.

_Remember what he taught you. Focus only on the ground. Nothing else matters except the ground right now. Breathe… And focus your senses through your hand…_ As he knelt there, he could feel a certain tingling feeling in his chest. It spread from his chest, down his right arm, and the sensation eventually rested in the palm of his hand. Still holding his ear to the ground, he felt the soot and earth beneath him, and reached out with his mind.

He could feel it. Soft though they were, he could feel the movement of feet and vehicles, probably Jeeps. _Where are they? _He felt the surrounding landscape. _The volcanic activity is messing me up again… Wait, there they are. Is that water? No, puddles, which must mean the swamps to the north of here. It's hard to tell their exact position…_ He could feel the sensation of being doused in mud as he scanned the swampy terrain. _Ugh, I hate this… Past Mauville, heading north towards Fortree…_ Inhaling sharply, he released his connection, and opened his eyes. He rose to his feet, still shaking slightly from the stunt he pulled.

"They're heading north, probably past Mauville by now, heading north to Fortree as we speak."

"Well, then," Sam responded, twirling the Poke Ball in his hand. "Let's chase them to the ground."

**So, I jsut wanted to take a little time to thank everyone who has actually bothered to read this so far. :3 I'm really surprised with how far I've come in this, considering I've been working the plot for this for over a year and yet have never actually wrote down a single word for it. If there are points in the story that don't make much sense (particularly the Matthew bit), don't panic. This will all be explained later on. _Transcendence _takes place roughly in the middle of my Saga, but I am writing every bit of it as though you have just picked up the book at Barnes and Noble, but don't worry. All will be revealed later. Thanks for all the views (I've been impressed by how many I've gotten, all things considered...) and keep reviewing. I'm always open to suggestions!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Oj, I have a lot of apologies to all you people who have found this story. I have had technical difficulties (losing my flash drive repeatedly) and well as motivational issues (Pokemon Bank finally came out!). However, I am back. On that note, enjoy! :)**

Chapter 7

The two young trainers had decided to have a bite to eat before setting out towards the east, where Oreburgh City was located. They had found a nice little hamburger shop in the center of town, and had taken residence at two of the tables. At one of them, Inferno and Raptor were having a mild sparring contest to decide who got to eat first, while Gamma Ray and Penguin looked at them like they were brainless idiots and tried to avoid the occasional knockback while they ate their food.

"Why do I always get the rowdy children…?" John mused out loud, taking a bite of his burger while watching his Pokémon from an adjacent table. Rebecca could only smirk.

"I'm not really sure. I guess you just don't have the best luck." She lowered her gaze. "I just can't help but feel we could've done more for Luke…"

"We did what he would allow us," he replied. "Sometimes that's all that's needed." He glanced at his watch. "Are you done with your food? We really should get going if we're going to make it by dusk."

"Agreed. Come on, guys!"

"Let's get moving, you two. Hey, don't throw the food!"

A couple of minutes later, the duo was walking out of the eastern exit of town. Inferno and Raptor hung their heads low, dejectedly, while their trainer was coated in ketchup and cheese slices, glaring at the trail ahead of them without a word spoken. Never breaking his stare, he pulled a spare napkin from his pocket and began wiping off the excess condiments from his clothes and face.

As they hiked up the hill, Inferno seemed to get over the incident from earlier, and he and enguin took to running towards each patch of grass they could find, ruffling the wild Pokémon into the open trail. Thanks to their help, the trainers were able to record every Pokémon in the area.

"Got it! That's Kricketot's data recorded!" Rebecca announced, grinning from ear to ear. "I didn't think we could find those in the daytime!"

"You can't," he replied, grinning as well. "Inferno decided to knock it out of the tree, just for the heck of it! Great work, bud!"

"Chim!" He was about to rustle the next patch of grass, but he stopped when he noticed a human was already there. "Char?"

"Huh? Who's that?" Walking to where the chimp was pointing, he could see a younger boy, a little younger than him, issuing commands to his Starly.

"You can do it, Starly! Hit it with another Tackle attack!"

"Star…" Clearly running out of steam, the exhausted bird made another lunge at the Shinx in front of him. The wild Pokémon, sensing the lack of energy, sidestepped lazily out of harm's way and quickly slammed into the bird while it was still flying.

"Star!" It fell to the ground, finally beat.

"Aw… You did great, little guy…" As the kid returned his Pokémon, he noticed John and Rebecca watching him. The Shinx took off instantly. "Hey, there. You didn't happen to see that, did you?"

"Yeah…" she replied, smiling awkwardly. "Yeah, we did. Do you need help?"

"What I need," he responded, sticking a Potion's nozzle into the button on the ball, "is just a little more time to tire out a Pokémon long enough to catch it. I just haven't had the best of luck today."

"Hey, maybe we could help?" John offered. "At least, if you wanted it…"

"You would really do that?" The kid's face lit up, and he nearly let his shorts fall down in his excitement. "Great! Tell you what: you can get the first one that pops out! I'll get the second one, so that I can learn from you."

"Sounds good." He glanced at Inferno. "Do you mind if Raptor takes this one? I think he could use the punching bag."

"Chim." As he stepped back behind John's feet, Raptor took his position in front of him, eyes already glaring at the grass in front of them. It didn't take much of a hike before a Pokémon leapt at the little Starly.

"Shinx!"

"Star!"

"All right, let's do this!" John shot a glance at his two observers behind him, then at the Shinx in front of him. _Well, this is definitely the same one that that kid was fighting earlier. He's clearly not an aggressive Shinx, so a full-blown offensive would just waste energy…_ Twisting his cap, "Fly low, Raptor! Hide in the grass!"

"Starly!" Immediately, the little bird flew into the tall grass, and the Shinx was quickly confused.

"Shi…?" As she looked around, John noticed the small glint of fear in her eyes. She began to walk around, poking at the grass nearby. As fear turned into slight panic, John took advantage.

"Now, Raptor!" Seemingly out of nowhere, Raptor flew out of the grass behind Shinx and slammed into her back. Not expecting the sneak attack, she fell to the ground in a matter of seconds. Not wasting time, John reached into his bag for a spare Poke Ball.

"Let's do this!" He threw the capsule at the Shinx, but she wouldn't have any of that. She rose to her feet like a ninja and began scurrying to safety. Instead, of pursuing, however, Raptor simply swatted the Poke Ball in the air with his wing like a baseball player as it came by, and the ball instead flew right towards the retreating Shinx. A flash of blue, and then three clicks confirmed the capture.

"Yeah! Great thinking, Raptor!"

"Star." The little bird hopped his way back to his Trainer, holding the ball in his wings like an Olympic trophy.

"Excellent work." He stared at the Poke Ball, coming up with a name. "Come out, X-Ray!" In a flash of blue, the Shinx reappeared net to him, lying on the ground.

"Hey, is he…?" the kid asked, amused.

The Shinx was fast asleep, not even reacting to Inferno's and Raptor's nudging.

"Didn't you just talk about always having the rowdy Pokémon…?" Rebecca whispered playfully.

"Shut up…" was his reply.

"That was cool!" the young trainer cried. "Ok, now it's my turn." He ran around the grass for a minute, and his Starly eventually found a Bidoof. "Hit it with Tackle, Starly!" The little bird quickly lunged towards the brown beaver Pokémon.

"Bidoof…" In retaliation, it tried to Tackle the Starly, but the kid remembered what he had seen.

"Hide in the grass! Surprise it!"

"Star!" It dived into the tall grass, and then slammed into the backside of the Pokémon.

"Let's go, Poke Ball!" The red and white capsule flew towards the unconscious Bidoof, and after three clicks, it was his. "Yeah, we did it, Starly! We caught a Pokémon!"

"Great work, kid," Rebecca said. "You showed Starly you knew what you were doing. You earned this victory."

"I couldn't have done this without you guys," he insisted. "Thanks again." He was about to run off towards Jublife, but before he did so, "The name's Phillip, by the way. Forgot to mention that."

"Glad we could help, Phillip. See you around!" He took off, and she glanced at John, who had finally managed to wake up his new Pokémon. "You ready to press on, John?" She couldn't help but stare at him for a minute.

He was a really interesting young man. While he was very strategic with almost military-like precision, he was also very out-going and carefree, shrugging off his Pokémon's antics like he was used to it, instead reacting only to the serious issues. He was…rather complicated. For some reason, she liked that about him.

"Ready to go!" John announced, eventually getting his Shinx to her feet next to him. "Let's finish this hike."

They continued on their trail, which eventually led to the side of a mountain, with the gaping mouth of a cave glaring at them.

"This appears to be Oreburgh Gate," he was saying. "After this, we'll be there. Come on, X-Ray." He walked forward, and Shinx trudged his feet behind him, with Inferno pushing him forward.

The cave was extremely dark. Almost immediately, Inferno took the head position, so that his flame tail would illuminate the path. X-Ray was a problem, though, so he decided to simply drag her forward through the pass. Rebecca's Pokémon huddled around Inferno for light, and their two Trainers silently followed, glancing around the deep expanse of the cave nervously, expecting a Pokémon to jump at them any moment. Thankfully, they didn't, and Inferno was relieved to see the light appear at the end of the tunnel. As they walked into the light, they were greeted with the dirty smell of coal.

"Well," John spat, coughing a storm as he tried to adjust to the dirty air, "I think we arrived in Oreburgh City." His new Shinx cast a glare in his direction that seemed to be dirtier than the air around them.

**Ok, so here's the deal. I love posting this for all to read, and I would really love for others to offer suggestions to my writing, the plot of my stories, etc. I'm getting many more views than I anticipated, but almost nobody has commented/reviewed this yet. I'd like 10 for now. Just 10 comments or something. This can let me know that poeple actually care about what I'm posting. Please and thank you.**

**P.S. Diance is officially revealed on Coro-Coro! Awesome!**


	8. Chapter 8

**So... Spring Break and school... The bane of any writer, it seems... Anyway, I've had some issues with the story recently, but I'm back now and ready to continue with it, now that I've been able to refine it a little bit. Hope you enjoy this one, it can only get better from here, right?**

Chapter 8

They chose to spend the night in a nearby hotel, since poor Inferno's incident with the sheets had caught on with the rest of the Pokémon Centers. After crashing in two of their rooms, they sat in the breakfast bar on the first floor the next morning. X-Ray was still coughing out the dusty air.

"Wow, you really don't like the coal mining, do you?"

"Shinx…"

"Well, we're here in Oreburgh," Rebecca replied, trying to avoid choking on the air herself. "Do you want to challenge the Gym here?"

"Diamond for sure will be trying to conquer the League…" he mused. "He'll probably give me all sorts of flak for not trying, so yeah, I'll give it a shot."

"Shi?" The blue Pokémon looked up at her Trainer curiously.

"Well, you may not be able to deal with Roark, X-Ray. He likes to use Rock and Ground types, and Electric types don't usually fare well, especially since all you can do is Tackle."

"Shi…"

"Actually…" she noticed, after taking a bite out of her muffin. "John, none of your Pokémon fare well against Rock. It doesn't look like your Chimchar is going to evolve anytime soon…"

"You're right…" He pulled out his Pokedex and flipped through some pages. "Although, it says that Machop are often seen near the mine. Maybe I could get one to help me with the Gym."

"Sounds good. You ready to go?"

A few minutes of walking, and the duo found the gaping entrance to the Oreburgh Mine.

"You know, for a mine, it's not that dark," remarked Rebecca.

"Well, they need light to see where they're digging," was John's response. "That, and Inferno's tail is really bright."

"Chim!"

Despite the light, there wasn't much to look at. The walls were a dark brown, with black specs of coal dotting sections of it all around. The tunnel kept dipping downhill, but it eventually flattened out. When it did, however, they noticed a young man examining one of the walls. An Alakazam stood next to him, illuminating the nearby area with Flash, revealing the man's red shirt and cap.

"Hm… I don't see anything, after all…"

"Hey, you're not a worker," Rebecca exclaimed. "What are you doing down here?"

"Is it fair if I ask you the same question?" he replied calmly. Turning around, he adjusted his hat so he could see them a little better. "Surely this isn't your idea of a romantic getaway, right?"

"What? No!" John stammered stupidly. "We're not here for that! I read that you could find Machop here. I'm trying to find one to help with the Pokémon Gym here."

"Ah, Machop." He nodded knowingly. "A Fighting type that evolves into Machoke. That would work well around here, though they don't appear in the cave, you know. The workers here use them all the time, but in the wild, they only appear to the north of Oreburgh."

"Oh, did I read that wrong…?" As he fumbled through his Pokedex, the mystery man turned to Rebecca.

"Who are you, by the way? You never introduced yourselves."

"I'm Rebecca," she replied. "And this is John. We're helping Prof. Rowan with the Pokedex."

"Oh, really?" He raised his eyebrows. "Well, I wish you luck with such a difficult journey. I would give you my name, but it's really not important right now."

"Well, Mr. Mysterious, what ARE you doing here?"

He turned back towards the wall of stone.

"I've been looking for ancient artifacts in Sinnoh, and was secretly hoping to find something here."

"In a coal mine?" She looked at him suspiciously. "Not the best place to look for mythology, is it?"

"I've found better things in less obvious locations than this, Rebecca. I was simply testing my luck." He glanced around the branching hallways. "Regardless, it seems there's nothing here after all. I guess Sabrina here was mistaken." The Alakazam cast him a dirty look. "Sorry, I 'misinterpreted' her 'correct' observations. Anyway, I must be going. I'll be seeing you later, John and Rebecca." He gestured to his Alakazam. "Let's go, Sabrina."

"Zam." The red-clad Trainer started his hike towards the surface, and as he went, Rebecca's gaze followed him.

"Ancient artifacts? Here? Something's not right…"

"Hey, greater discoveries have been made in less obvious places," John remarked. "Remember the Regis? They were right next to civilization, and no one ever found them until recently. Maybe he's just adventurous. "

"Maybe…"

As he walked out into the sunlight, a frown crossed the young man's face. He had spent a good two hours in that mine, hoping to find some trace of a Plate, but nothing was there. _Aw well, better head back to the apartment and talk to Mark, see how he's doing._ He walked into the hotel near the Center, taking the elevator to the 10th floor. He and his Alakazam walked down the hall and opened the door to room 1024. Closing the door behind him, he grinned and nodded towards the Nidoking that was staring down the front door.

"Good job, Ganon," he said. "You guarded the place well."

"King," he grunted. Reaching into his bag, the man tossed him a light brown Poke Block.

"You've earned it, buddy." Sitting down at the counter, he pulled out his new and shiny Poketch and pulled up his Facetime app. After selecting the name with a golden box around it (customization is truly a great thing), a phone icon flashed for several seconds before the face a man roughly his age appeared, instead wearing a black and gold cap.

"Commander Gold, are you alone?"

"More or less," was his slightly washed-out reply, the sound of the waves coming through the man's speakers like static. "It's just me and Commander Silver up here on the deck."

"Alright, I'll make this quick. How close are you to Sinnoh?"

"Uh… We should arrive in Canalava by tomorrow morning."

He ran some numbers in his head.

"Ok, I need you to find some people as soon as you get there. When you reach Canalava, don't get a room there. Instead, head west to Jublife. Trust me, you won't miss it. When you get there, there should be two young Trainers coming from the eastern gate to the city. They shouldn't be too hard to spot…"

"Forgive me, Commander Red," he interrupted. "Do you mean you've found new people already?"

"I think so, I'm not sure," he replied exasperatedly. "That's why I'm asking you to help me out."

"If I do find them, and you're right, what should I do?"

"Nothing, just like before. If you can, get a better, closer look at them, but otherwise nothing. Don't give yourself away, and you should be alright. I'll catch up with you later on." Suddenly, a young woman took the seat next to the man in the video.

"Who are you talking to?" She leaned in closer to the screen, and the man instinctively leaned back from the 3D effect of her ice cream cone. "Oh, sorry…"

"Commander Silver, you're doing well, I see."

"Why wouldn't I be?" she puffed. "The food here is spectactular! I can't get enough of it!'

"You'll find a way eventually…" Commanders Red and Gold muttered in sync. "Anyway, contact me when you dock. I'll speak with you then. Commander Red signing out."

"Wait…" the girl muttered. "Did you two just call me fat again?"

"No," her friend said reassuringly. "But, isn't that, like, your tenth cone?"

"I can't help it…" she whined quietly, patting her slightly swollen stomach with her free hand while taking a bite of her ice cream. "They're so good!"

"You're insane, you know that?"

He closed the facetime, and instead turned towards the assortment of papers on the other end of the counter. In the middle of the mess was a stone tablet, light pink in color, with indescribable symbols all along the outside edges of it. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out another tablet, this one bright silver, and laid them side-by-side, forming a taller rectangle, matching up the marks on the edges. Together, the text on the tablets spelled out a language of ancient origins, undecipherable to most. Luckily, the man had been studying this type of text for a long time, and was able to read what was there. He pulled out a piece of paper and began writing the decripted version in longhand.

Three beings came forth from t

for space, and one for the opposite.

bitter, and committed crime against

third was banished to a world opposi

became the embodiment of that world.

one for each, will reveal their descend

from destruction. One for time, one for

It set his heart racing every time he read text like this. Naturally, since he was missing two Plates, only half of the text was readable, but, just like before, the texts described the nature of Legendary Pokémon. This time, apparently, they were directly related to the Original One, though he had no knowledge of their nature. "For space, and one for the Opposite" must be referring to these deities, possible a pair, but it also hinted at a third: "third was banished to a world opposi" probably meant opposite. Perhaps the third lashed out against one of the other two, or perhaps the Original One himself? "One for each, will reveal their descend…" he muttered to himself. The slight mark of the next letter hinted at the word descendants, but since Legendary Pokémon didn't have descendants, it probably referred to the descendants of their ancient defenders.

"One for each, will reveal their descend…" He groaned. "One of what?!" There was no way of knowing. He needed the other two Plates, specifically the one that made the lower right corner, to figure that.

This was the crux of his research. According to what he discovered, humans, at one point in history, had sworn their lives to defend the creations of the Original One from evil. After centuries of peace, some kind of war broke out, and these defenders disappeared from the texts. However, hints at their reappearance were spotted throughout these Plates, and proof of this was already apparent. Already, several ancient bloodlines had been Awakened, and now, in Sinnoh, he was close than ever to discovering the Original One himself. But where to find those other two Plates? After examining the edges of the pink Plate, he could see small specks of purplish-grey.

"Hm, this looks like it could be Ghost… Maybe near the Old Chateau…?" He pulled out the pamphlet from his pocket with a chuckle. "Who's looking cliché now, Cynthia?"

After trekking deeper into the mine, the mystery man's words became more and more apparent. No Machop, save the few with the workers, existed in the mine. In fact, except for the Geodudes and the occasional, heart-stopping Onix attack, nothing lived in here at all. As the trail began to loop into a circle, John took the time to train Inferno to deal with Rock-types.

"Hit it with an Ember!" A small burst of flame erupted from the chimp's mouth and coated the Geodude in flames, bringing it down.

"Dude…" it moaned, crashing to the ground in defeat.

"Great work, Inferno!"

"Chim!"

"You know," Rebecca mused. "He might actually evolve before we're through here…"

"I certaintly hope so." A man in a red construction helmet came out of the tunnel nearby. "That would make your trip through the Gym that much easier."

"Hey, aren't you Roark, the Leader?"

"Yep, that's right." He tipped his hat to them. "I was spending some time here, helping out the digging, but now I think I'll head back to the Gym. You looking to challenge me?"

"That's right," was John's reply. Inferno balled his fists.

"Well, then, come in when you're ready." He walked off towards the exit, but as soon as he was gone, the pair could hear a growling sound.

"Do you hear that…?" Suddenly, a large, light grey-colored snake burst out of the ground in front of them, red eyes glaring down at the defenseless group.

"Panic time!" Rebecca exclaimed.

"Let's get out of here, Inferno!" However, the little chimp didn't move.

"Chim…" Fists balled up in anger, eyes glaring as fiercely as the Onix's, it was prepped for the fight of its life.

"Inferno!" he cried. "Not even your Ember will be enough to deal with that Onix! We need to leave right now!"

"Chim!" He whipped his head around to look at his Trainer, and John noticed the flare in its eyes.

"No way…"

"Chimchar!" In an instant, the chimp leapt at incredible speed and delivered a brutal punch to the Onix's forehead.

"Grah!"

"Mach Punch?!" Rebecca exclaimed. "That can only mean…"

As if on cue, a white light engulfed the Chimchar's body, blinding everyone around and illuminating the entire tunnel. When the light receded, Inferno had changed. Its light orange fur had darkened, and its once-stubby tail had grown out to proper size. Blue circles appeared around its eyes, and the flame on its tail burned much higher.

"Inferno evolved!" cried John. "He's now a Monferno!"

"Fer!" Wasting no time for show, the Monferno ran forward and landed another Mach Punch on the rock snake.

"Onix!" Realizing its disadvantage, the Pokémon recoiled back into its hole quickly, admitting defeat. Pleased with the battle, Inferno walked over to his astonished Trainer and held up a hand.

"Monferno!"

"Yeah, Inferno, you evolved!" They exchanged a high-five. "All right!" His eyes narrowed. "Let's show Roark who's boss."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Here we are, Inferno: Oreburgh City Gym."  
The Gym wasn't very large, but the large hill that enveloped the space made it seem huge. Large, weathered rocks dotted the incline, and at the top, John could see Roark from the mine standing at the top, looking down at him with a look of excitement, as if he couldn't wait to battle him. John glanced down at his buddy, who simply clenched his fists.  
"Monfer..."  
"Ok, good luck, John," said Rebecca.  
"Pip, pip!"  
"Thanks, guys. Let's do this, Inferno!"  
Rebecca and her Piplup climbed the nearby stairs towards the observation deck, and stood at the railing about halfway up, giving him a thumbs-up. An older man with soft brown eyes walked up to him.  
"You challenging the Gym? What's your name, kid?"  
"The name's John. John Parker."  
"Is this your first Gym fight?"  
"That's right."  
In response, the older man walked over to the Pokemon statue and pushed the League symbol on the base. Eight segments of the base lit up in a soft yellow glow, arranged in a two-by-four arrangement. Pressing the first one signaled two kid Trainers to walk out of secret doors in the sides, each one with a special pair of cleats that prevented them from slipping on the steep slope. For a small second, John kind of envied their ability to avoid falling.  
"First Badge challenge, against Roark of Oreburgh. Challenger: John Parker. Let the challenge...begin!"

Rebecca couldn't help but admire his endurance.  
John and his newly-evolved Monferno bolted up the slope, and John almost immediately began sliding downwards. The effort he exerted to remain in place was remarkable. Luckily, when he reached the first trainer, he was near a large rock, and was able to lean against it as Inferno laid waste to the first Geodude.  
As he watched his progression, though, she couldn't help but let her thoughts drift to that man from earlier.  
_ Everyone knows that the mine doesn't have anything in it of value,_ she pondered. _That's why they chose to build the mine there instead of Eterna. Something bigger is going on here, something he's hiding...  
_ "Pip..." purred her Piplup, concerned. Rebecca forced a small grin.  
"Don't worry about it, Penguin. I'm fine."  
_What could he be, though? I have a bad feeling he's related to the incident with Hoenn a few months back..._ She looked up in time to see Inferno smash the boy's final Geodude into the ground like it was nothing, and he and his Trainer continued their hike towards the next Trainer. _Well, whatever it is, I can't really do anything about it right now. If I see him again, though, I'll find the truth...  
_ "Piplup!" Penguin was cheering on as Inferno defeated the boy's Onix, and the duo reached the plateau in the incline, and John immediately bent down with his hands on his knees, catching his breath. The true battle was about to begin.

He stopped at the top of the hill, trying to catch his breath. His curly black hair, coated in sweat, was beginning to stick out of the sides of his slightly lopsided hat, and his sneakers were coated in dirt. Inferno looked significantly better, though his fists were slightly bruised from punching so many rocks, and the flame on his long tail wasn't as tall as it was earlier, signaling his fatigue.  
"The things I do for Diamond..." he muttered under his breath.  
"This Gym battle isn't for anyone but you, John," Roark replied. "This is a test to see how well YOU have bonded with YOUR Pokémon. You ready for it?"  
His response was to twist his hat back into place.  
"Bring it, Roark!"  
"Monferno!"  
"Come on out, Geodude!" He tossed his Poke Ball into the air, and another Geodude appeared in front of them, ready for battle. John side-stepped slightly so that he could elongate the distance between the two of them, to make it a bit easier. "Start off with Tackle!"

"Counter it with a Mach Punch, Inferno!"

The little chimp made a lunge towards the advancing Geodude, but the Rock Pokémon saw the blow coming and jumped, landing square on Inferno's foot. He recoiled in pain, not expecting its finesse.

_Shoot, I should have known…_ he thought bitterly. _Roark probably spends most of his time dealing with Trainers with Machop and other Fighting types. He would know how to counter them… I bet he hasn't dealt with anyone brave enough to use Fire… _"Inferno, coat the battlefield with Ember!"

"Monferno!" Snapping back into focus, Inferno kicked the Geodude away and twirled in the air, spewing out a good bit of fire as he did so, peppering the nearby ground in fire, which rose about a foot high each. Bewildered, Geodude glanced around it, suddenly terrified by the new and unfamiliar sight. Suddenly, a long arm shot out of the flames, Inferno's Mach Punch, sending it flying out of the circle of short-lived flames. It landed at Roark's feet, eyes swirling.

"Good try, man…" Returning it to its Ball, Roark pulled out another one. "Your turn, Onix!" As the giant rock snake appeared in a flash of light, Inferno was already in the air, ready to slam its face. Unfortunately for him, the Onix had other plans.

"Onix!" It simply swatted its tail, smashing the unsuspecting Monferno to the ground hard. He rose to its feet slowly, clutching his side in pain.

_What to do… That tail's gonna wipe him out if I don't do something… Wait… No, that's risky…_ He glanced at his partner, who could feel John's uncertainty. He clenched his fists at his sides once more, the pain seemingly gone. _That's my boy… _"You know what to do, Inferno!"

"Counter it with the tail, Onix!"

Inferno lunged forward, but instead of going for another punch, Inferno grabbed onto the rock snake's tail as it went to counter the expected leap. The tail got about half-way up the distance to its head before it realized that Inferno wasn't in the air, but on its head. A half-second click registered in everyone's minds as the Pokémon assessed the situation.

"Ragh!" The Onix quickly made to slap Inferno off of its head, but Inferno managed to leap off barely in time, causing the tail to smash into Onix instead. While in the air, Inferno raised his fist, and brought it down on the weakened Pokémon.

It didn't stand a chance. The rock snake crumpled to the ground, eyes swirling like Geodude's before it, and the Monferno back-flipped away from the defeated Pokémon, eyes ablaze.

"Yeah! Great job, Inferno!" John cried.

"Two down, one to go!" Roark announced. "Finish it, Cranidos!"

In the usual flash of light, a dark-grey Pokémon with a baby-blue back and skull stood in front of Roark. It focused its beady red eyes at its target, waiting for orders.

_Cranidos…? I've heard of that Pokémon._ John remembered. _Cranidos and Shieldon are two ancient Pokémon whose fossils have been recently discovered in Sinnoh. Cranidos and its evolution are the offensive ones. Better be careful…_ Almost immediately after he thought that, the Cranidos was charging for an attack.

"Finish that Monferno with Headbutt!"

"Cra!"

"Dodge it, Inferno!"

The chimp Pokémon made a leap into the air, but the Cranidos saw it coming, and simply jumped to pursue it, ramming his stomach with its skull.

"Fer…!" Both Pokémon crashed into the ground. Cranidos rose to its feet, but Inferno did not.

"Nice job, buddy. You did great…" Returning his friend to its Poke Ball, he pondered his next move.

_Crap! His strongest Pokémon is here, and I just lost mine! Who should I use? No one else can deal with a shot that powerful! Unless… _He turned one of his Poke Balls in his hand. _This might work, but only for an instant… _"Let's do this, X-Ray!" His Shinx stood ready for battle. Realizing who her opponent was, however, she turned to him with fear in and confusion in her eyes.

"You can do this, X-Ray. I have faith in you."

"Shi…?"

"Headbutt again, Cranidos!" Roark called out. "Let's go!"

"Cra!" The little rock Pokémon began another charge, but as it approached the Shinx, her head whirled to face her opponent, glaring with truly hateful eyes. Startled, Cranidos hesitated for a brief instant, which caused it to trip on its own feet and crash to the ground.

_Yes! Intimidate! _"Get'em, X-Ray!"

"Shinx!" Wasting little time, the blue electric Pokémon ran forward, tucked his head, and rammed into Cranidos, who immediately rose to its feet again and began charging. Shinx, however, knew this would happen, and happened to be near the edge of the plateau when her attach finished. A simple dodge allowed Cranidos to run right off the edge, tumbling all the way down the slope, eventually stopping at the entrance to the Gym itself. The Gym person at the bottom studied the injured Pokémon.

"It's down!" he called out. "Roark has been defeated!"

"Yes!" John pumped his fist in the air. "We did it, X-Ray!"

"Shinx!" The blue Pokémon began a happy dance around the room, and John glanced at the Poke Ball containing his Monferno.

"You did awesome, too, Inferno…"

"Well, that was an unexpected ending!" Roark returned Cranidos to its Ball and faced John. "Truly, an impressive win that was." He held out his hand. "Here is your prize: the Coal Badge." In his hand was a metal pin about the size of John's thumb. It looked like a brown and silver Poke Ball in appearance, except it was slightly hexagonal in shape. In his other hand, he pulled out a black box. He handed both to John, who opened the box and discovered eight small holes in which to stick his new Badge. He pushed his Coal Badge through the top left slot, and closed and pocketed the case.

"Thank you, Roark."

"Don't thank me. This is only recognition of the abilities you already possess." He cleared his throat. "I should warn you, however, the rest of the Leaders in Sinnoh will all be tougher than me, so I suggest you be prepared."

"Don't worry about me. Right, X-Ray?"

"Shi." After that, John returned his Shinx to her Ball and slid down the slope towards the main door. Rebecca was already there waiting on him.

"Wow, that was really impressive how Shinx won that one. I don't think I saw that one coming."

"Thanks, Rebecca. It was a hard-fought win." He pocketed X-Ray's Ball. "We should go heal up. When we're done, let's figure out where we should go next."

The city was alive as ever. People were bustling through the streets, in and out of the department stores and Game Corner, even few strong Trainers were coming in and out of the Veilstone Gym. The older man with spiky, electric-blue hair observed all the commotion with apathy.

_Soon,_ he thought. _Soon, the time will come to change everything. To bring about a new world… But first…_ He reached into his white coat pocket and pulled out a handheld mic.

"Numbers Twenty-Four and Twenty-Five," he said blankly.

"Yes, sir," replied two voices on the other end.

"Our plan hinges on the ability to avoid interference. I suggest we…persuade men like Prof. Rowan that our actions are to be met with absolutely zero resistance. I trust I can count on you…?"

"Of course, sir! It will be done! All glory to Team Galactic!"

A small smile managed to escape his expressionless demeanor and he returned the mic to his pocket.

_At last, we can begin._

**_Wow, I owe you guys a HUGE apology... I have been swamped with everything school and friend related and even though I've had Chapters 9 and 10 typed up, I never got around to posting them here. Anyway, here they are! Keep reviewing! This lets me know that people actually care about what I have going here!_**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

After healing at the Center, John pulled out his digital map.

"Ok, so we can't get to Eterna via the direct route to the north, since we would need a bike to travel through Cycling Road… Our only option would be to head back to Jublife and head north from there towards Floaroma Town… That sound like a plan, Rebecca?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Shi!" cried Gamma Ray.

"Let's do it, then."

The hike back to Jubilife was pretty uneventful. Besides a bit of training, the duo arrived in town without any incident at all.

"It's probably because it's still morning," John was explaining. "The Pokémon aren't fully awake yet."

"Besides the Zubat, anyway."

"Shi"

"Shinx!" The two Shinx gazed up at the flock of Zubats flying overhead, probably trying to find a spot to sleep for the day. After a few more minutes of walking, the two Trainers and their Shinx arrived in the eastern side of Jubilife.

"Ok, we need to find the Poke Mart. I want to stock up on supplies for the trip," John announced. "The trip to Floaroma is much longer and tougher than Oreburgh was, and I don't want to screw up simply because I wasn't prepared."

"That's fine. We'll wait for you at the northern gate. Don't be late."

"Yeah, yeah! I'm just the slave, right?" he mocked jokingly. "Just the slave who has a Gym Badge while you don't?!"

"Just go!" She stuck her tongue at him. "You're taking too long!"

He simply smiled and disappeared into the crowd.

_That kid… He's gonna be a handful now, with his newly-found cockiness… _She shook her head as she and her Shinx walked towards the nearby exit. _Whatever, at least he has class…_ She stopped at the gate. _Unlike these guys…_

She was looking at two people, one guy and one woman, both with bright blue hair and bizarre, spaceman outfits with a giant, yellow G on the back of the uniform. The male was whispering something to the woman, and Rebecca strained to hear.

"…supposed to do in the meantime? He's not here!"

"Relax," the woman whispered back, kicking him. "He's probably somewhere else in the city. Remember, he lives farther south, right?"

"Yeah…"

"So," she insisted, "he wouldn't be **here**, now would he? He would be on the south end."

"Right…" He nodded in agreement. "Let's take that side path over here. We can cut him off when he does show up."

"Great idea. Hurry." Immediately, they took off into the nearby alley.

"What was…" she muttered. "Oh my god, Gamma Ray! They can only mean the Professor!"

"Shi!"

"Should we trail them?"

The little Pokémon pointed a paw towards the Poke Mart.

"We'll be quick. Come on!" She took off after them, making Gamma Ray only sigh and chase her.

The sun hadn't yet risen high enough to illuminate the alley, so the dark walls of the buildings seemed even more intimidating. Occasionally, a leaky pipe dripped water onto the stone ground, and Gamma Ray huddled closer to Rebecca as she tried to follow the sounds of the wierdos' footsteps. Suddenly, she stopped.

"Huh? Where'd those creeps go?" She looked around the dark alley. "I can't hear them anymore."

"Wow, you really are clueless."

Her heart froze.

"Only the truly gifted can hide in plain sight," a female voice continued, "And you're not one of them!"

Suddenly, he two oddly-dressed characters dropped from the rooftops, one on either side of the alley, blocking the only two ways out.

"After all," the male voice continued, "you're certainly not smart enough to realize we noticed you standing there."

She cringed inwardly at her stupidity.

"Well, do you know where he is?"

"Huh?" Rebecca's face paled. "I don't know who you're talking about!"

"Shi!" Her Shinx ran in front of her, glaring at the female goon in front of his Trainer.

"Oh, dear, your Pokémon is getting riled up…" the male goon groaned. "Come on, Zubat. Let's get this thing out of the way…"

A flash of white revealed a purple and light blue bat Pokémon with no eyes. The Zubat lunged at the angry Shinx, who made to Tackle it out of the sky. However, the Zubat flew underneath the little Pokémon and flew upwards, flipping the Shinx into the air.

"Shi!" Startled, the Shinx was unprepared for the dive, and began to panic as the tiny bat managed to raise him into the air.

"Hey, get back down here, you stupid bat!" she cried.

"I don't think that's really necessary," the man explained. He ran towards her and quickly grabbed her bag from her hands.

"Hey!" She was backing up against the wall now in fear.

"Sorry, but we don't want you summoning your other Pokémon here, now do we?" He pinned her arms against the dark wall. "I suggest we get to know one another a little better."

She squirmed against his grip, going into a frenzy with his hot breath on her face.

"In fact, do you have any friends? Namely, do you know the Prof., by any chance? And if so, could you point us in the right direction?"

"And why," she groaned, gritting her teeth, "would I tell you creeps something like that?!"

The man blinked several times. Noticing the ruffled state of her clothes, an evil grin appeared.

"Hm… Perhaps you would be more willing to talk if we got some quality time with one another." Reaching over, he slowly began to pull the sleeve of her shirt up with one hand and pull the bottom of her shirt with his other hand.

"Shi!"

"Mega Man, use Ember!" Suddenly, a large cloud of tiny flames shot out of the sky, pelting her assailant.

"Waah! Fire!" He recoiled from the flames, backing away from her.

"Luke…" Rebecca looked up from where the flames came, and saw a young man with dirty blond hair with a Magby jump down in between her and the goon.

"Touch her and you're dead, Galactic," he seethed.

"Magby!"

"Hmph, so it has to be this way, then?" The man snapped his fingers, and Zubat dropped the Shinx.

"Gamma Ray!" Noticing the issue immediately, the Magby ran over and managed to catch the Shinx before he hit the ground.

"Fine, then, we'll battle you instead of the pretty lady," the woman continued. "It makes no difference to us."

"It does if you don't have her bag anymore," he noted.

"Wh-what?!" The Galactic goon looked around furiously, realizing that Magby was happily walking over to Rebecca carrying a large manila handbag. "That's it, we're taking you both down!"

Rebecca fumbled in her bag for her Ball stash.

"Return, Gamma Ray!" After the blue light, she pulled out another Ball. "Let's take them down, Penguin!"

"Piplup!"

"Ready, Magby?"

"Mag!"

"Zubat and Wurmple, let's get 'em!" In a flash, a pink centipede Pokémon appeared alongside the Zubat.

"Wurm!"

Rebecca and Luke just looked at each other.

"Let's do this."

John exited the Poke Mart just in time to see Prof. Rowan walking up the road.

"Hey, Prof. Rowan!"

"Ah, John! How's that Chimchar I gave you?"

"He evolved in Oreburgh, sir."

"Monferno!"

"Ah! Splendid! Great work, John." He looked around, concerned. "Where's Rebecca? Wasn't she travelling with you?"

"Huh? She's at the north…" He looked at the empty northern exit of town. "…exit…"

"My dear boy, did your father ever teach you to keep track of your women?"

"Sir…" His face burned a deep red. "That's not what we…" He shot a glance to the exit again, and noticed a flash of orange from the nearby alleyway.

"If I were to guess…" Rowan mused. "I would say she's over that way."

"I agree completely, sir…"

"Penguin, finish the Wurmple off with Water Gun!"

"Pip!" A burst of water shot from the Piplup's mouth, connecting with the poor Bug-type.

"Wurm…" The male goon returned his Pokémon angrily.

"Confuse the Zubat with Smog!"

A blast of purple gas enveloped the bat, causing it to lose its bearings.

"Now, ignite it with Ember!" A small spark from Magby landed in the smoke, and the whole cloud lit up in a spectacular fireball. The poor Zubat collapsed after only a few seconds, eyes swirling.

"Damn it, Zubat!" The woman returned her Pokémon to its Ball, steaming mad. "You little bitch!"

"Something I learned from a friend of mine." He glanced behind him. "Isn't that right, John?"

"John?!" Rebecca whirled around to see John and Prof. Rowan standing near the entrance to the alley. "John! There you are!" She ran up to him and bear-hugged him.

"Uh…" His face began burning up again. "What was going on…?"

"Well, we're Team Galactic!" the man explained.

"We're searching for the power to create a new world" his companion continued. "We were going to find Prof. Rowan and have him help us with his research on Pokémon evolution, but that seems to have failed horribly!"

Prof. Rowan walked in front of Rebecca and Luke to face them.

"Quiet, you lot! Why must you be such a nuisance? Let me list some lessons you still need to learn. #1: If you don't get your way, don't raise your voice to be intimidating. #2: Don't think you've grown strong just because you're in a group. #3: What is with those outlandish outfits you have on? My goodness... You call yourselves adults?" He turned to look at the teenagers behind him. "You kids, don't grow up to be like these sorry specimens."

"Hey! We're still here, you know!" the Galactic man yelled.

"Then I guess you don't mind answering a few questions from the guy that kicked your ass," Luke explained calmly. About 13 years ago, a man named Ramos Garry was kidnapped by you morons in Sunyshore City. Where is he?"

"Excuse me?"

"Don't play games with me!" He stepped in closer menacingly. Mega Man looked at him worriedly. "You know who I'm talking about! Where is he?!"

"Luke…" Rebecca warned.

"Look, kid, we don't know things like that! Only the Commanders would know old history like that! We don't know!"

The gears revolved furiously in Luke's head. He gritted his teeth.

"…Get out of here…" The goons didn't hesitate.

"…Well," Rowan remarked. "Aren't you an interesting character?"

It took a few seconds for Luke to regain some of his cool. Magby climbed up his arm and rested on his shoulder.

"I apologize for that, sir. This girl here was being assaulted by some Team Galactic morons, so I decided to assist."

"Oh, and how did she get here in the first place?"

"…I heard them talking about you, sir…" she explained softly. "I tried to trail them, but I got stuck…"

"Rebecca, I was just about to finish at the Mart," John said. "Running off to chase criminals like that is really dangerous!"

"I know that! I just didn't realize they knew I was there…"

Rowan simply sighed.

"Regardless, you've done a great job, young man." He thought to himself briefly. "What's your name?"

"I'm Luke, sir."

"Magby!"

"Hm! I've decided!" He reached into his brown messenger bag and pulled out a Poke Ball. "I want you to have this Turtwig here."

Everyone's eyes widened.

"But sir," Rebecca exclaimed, "that's a valuable Pokémon!"

"Then why do you think I'm offering it to him, then?"

"Why would you do this, Prof. Rowan? I'm not even a Trainer…"

"You can be one," Rowan insisted. "Besides, the Pokémon Union recently eased some of its registration burdens, so only Prof. Assistants need to register specifically."

"How convienent…" John muttered.

Luke gingerly grasped the Poke Ball in his hand.

"C-Come on out, Africa!" In a flash of white, a small, brown-shelled, turtle Pokémon appeared. The two tiny leaves on its head twitched as it eyed his new Trainer.

"Turtwig!"

"Magby!" The red Pokémon hobbled over and hugged his newest friend.

"I don't deserve this, sir."

"That's why you deserve him the most," he insisted. "Besides, I think you'd be a valuable addition to my assistants here."

"Wait, what…?" John glanced at Inferno, who shared his confusion.

"You three can explore the world much faster than just two. In fact, I think you would be a good challenger for the Sinnoh League. You should work on those keen skills of yours." He started walking off. "Well, I'll be heading back to Sandgem. Take care, you three!" As he left, Luke could only gaze at his new Pokémon.

"Africa… Mega Man… I'm going to be a Trainer…?"

"Mag!"

"Tur!"

They barely managed to reach the town in time. His gold cap was starting to be blown away as he and his companion rushed towards the western gate of Jubilife City. _We just had to get another round of food right as the boat docked, didn't we…? Crazy girl…_ They read the arch that read **Jubilife City**, and he renewed his efforts, with his friend struggling to keep up. At last, they managed to reach the center of town, his eyes darting all around.

"Hey, be careful…" she warned, panting. "You're…in public…remember…?

"Just a moment…" He caught a glimpse of three teenagers walking towards the Pokémon Center. "I think I found them…" He blinked, his eyes flashing a bright gold for a fraction of a second. "There you are…"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Africa… Mega Man… I'm going to be a Trainer?"

"Mag!"

"Tur!"

"I can't believe it…"

Rebecca approached him quizzically.

"Are you going to be ok?"

"Yeah… This is just incredible…" _At last, I can leave Jubilife and try to find him…_ He looked around confused. "What should I do now?"

"Well…" John answered. "You should head to the Center nearby. They'll have the Trainer Card that Prof. Rowan is setting up for you right now."

"Ok, but what about Africa here? Having them both walking around with me would get tricky…"

"You just return him back to his Ball."

"Oh." His face turned red. "Yeah, I just do that." He took the Turtwig's Poke Ball in his hand and pointed it at the Pokémon. "Uh…Africa, return!" Nothing happened.

"Uh," John remarked. "You're supposed to push the button when you do that…"

"Wha… Oh, duh!" He did the same thing again, except he pushed the button this time, and the familiar beam of light engulfed the little Turtwig, Returning it to inside the Poke Ball. "Woah… I always wanted to know what that's like…" He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "Never mind, that's not important…" He glanced at his weakened Magby. "So, I just go to the Pokémon Center to heal my Pokémon?"

"That's right," was John's reply. "The nurse is usually very kind. She'll help you out."

"How about that…" He looked towards the north gate. "Ok, you guys can wait for me, right? I kinda want to talk to my friends in private for a bit while I'm there…"

Rebecca raised an eyebrow.

"Ok… That's fine. We'll wait for you here."

"Thanks. Let's go, Mega Man!" As he took off towards the center of town, another man and woman roughly their age approached them.

"Excuse me, you two!" The man adjusted his black and gold cap to see them better. "Can you help us out with something?"

"What seems to be the problem?" asked John.

"Well," the woman started, biting her lower lip slightly. "We're tourists, you see, from Hoenn. We just got here a few minutes ago."

"Ooh, I've heard about Hoenn!" Rebecca's eyes lit up. "It's really pretty there, right?"

"Some places…" the man mused, grinning. "Anyway, we've heard that a group called Team Galactic is beginning to gain prominence around Sinnoh. Is this true?"

"Well…" John cast a nervous glance at Rebecca next to him. "It depends on who you ask. They haven't done anything much, so I don't think anyone should treat them as anything extreme."

"Hm…" The man's gaze lowered for a bit. "Well, I guess we don't need to worry about them all that much, then." He extended a hand. "Pleased to meet you, then. My name is Mark."

"And I'm Catherine," the woman replied, shaking Rebecca's hand.

"Well, we're John and Rebecca. It's great to meet you." _Wait, did his eyes just go weird?_ A second later it was gone. _No, I must have imagined it…_ "We're travelling as requested by Prof. Rowan of Sandgem."

"Oh? Well, best of luck to you two." Mark motioned to his friend. "We should get going, Katie. We have friends waiting for us."

"Oh, ok… We'll see you later, then?"

"Definitely," Rebecca responded. The duo walked off towards the southern end of town, before disappearing into the crowd. "Hm… I wonder how Luke's doing…?"

Amidst the sea of commuters, Mark raised a hand to his right ear, which concealed a small headset.

"Well, here's the deal…"

Luke was the happiest person in the world right now.

He had taken his two Pokémon to the nurse, who had very kindly taken his two Poke Balls and put them in the large machine behind her.

"Now, your Pokémon are pretty battered up, so they might take a while…"

"That's fine. I'll wait here." As he turned around, though, he spotted a young woman sitting on one of the nearby couches He instantly recognized the long, light brown hair and hazel eyes, and had to blink several times to keep his emotions in check.

_I don't believe my luck. I had completely forgotten why I was still in Jubilife in the first place, but I just found her right before I leave!_ Casually, he walked over to the couch and sat next to the petite woman. She turned to glance at the new arrival.

"Hello, you," he said, face expressionless.

"Do I…know you?"

"No, but I know you, don't I? You're that spokesperson for Galactic Corp, aren't you?"

"Yes… My sisters and I have been tasked with inspecting each of Sinnoh's three lakes. We hope to develop new energy methods without harming the region. We are hoping that the lakes may provide the answers." She raised her head a little higher. "I'm Tara, tasked with Lake Verity."

"You know…" he mused, smiling knowingly. "It IS a bit odd that your company didn't send anyone to defend someone like you, especially with all the dangerous Pokémon between here and Veilstone…"

"You mean the Bidoof?"

They both chuckled lightly.

"Fair enough," he admitted.

"You sound like you wish to pick a fight with me…" she reasoned quietly, so that only he could hear.

"Normally I would, but I don't think that's really necessary," he assured, matching her tone. "Look, I have nothing against you three, I really don't. I just don't trust your employer, that's all."

"And you're telling me this, why?"

"Just in case you and your people are obligated to care. Just know that I trust you, but if you prove to be no better than them, well, you'll see…"

"I'll take note of that. Now, if you'll excuse me…" She rose from the couch, slung her pink purse over her shoulder, and walked out the entrance of the Center. He stood up to stretch, but the nurse interrupted him.

"Excuse me, sir, but your Pokémon are ready for you!"

"Ah, thank you!" His mood brightened as he took the two Poke Balls from the woman. Walking to the nearby computer room, he summoned his two Pokémon.

"Tur!"

"Magby!"

"Hey, guys!" He knelt down on his knee. "We need to talk about something.

"Yep, we're finally going to be able to explore Sinnoh for real. It was such a long tiem ago, though…" His head fell as his voice grew quieter, his dirty blond bangs covering his left eye. "Do you think we'll actually find him…?"

"Tur…?"

"Hmph, I guess Mega Man will have to explain things to you on the trail…" His gaze rose to face his Pokémon's. "We need to at least try, though, right? Maybe we WILL find him, and I can finally come to terms with my past… Maybe I can finally get revenge on that damned Team Galactic and all their nonsense." He narrowed his eyes. "Are you ready for this, Mega Man?"

"Magby!"

He grinned knowingly.

"That's what I thought." He rose to his feet. "Let's head back to the others. We need to get moving."

John saw Luke walking over to them.

"Hey, there he is! We have something for you." He handed the confused teen ten Poke Balls.

"Wha… Why are you giving me these?"

"Because. If you're going to take on the Gyms around here, you'll need to catch more Pokémon than just Africa and Mega Man."

"Oh… Thanks, John. I appreciate it." He motioned towards the path before them. "Shall we start?"

They spent the first hour or two walking up the inclining hill, Luke taking the occasional break to train Africa against the occasional wild Pokémon.

"Ok, Africa, pay attention to how Mega Man charges the opponent."

"Be careful on that footwork, little guy…"

"…That's a rock, not a Starly…"

"Twi?"

"Don't worry about it," John reassured him. "You're doing really well so far."

"Turtwig…"

Rebecca glanced at the darkening sky.

"I think we should set up camp for the night. I have some granola bars left that we can pass around."

After a few minutes, John had set up the sleeping bags that he brought. Rebecca, sensing that Luek didn't have one, had bought an extra one. As the three of them sat in their bags, people and Pokémon gazing up at the doted sky, they started talking.

"Do you ever wonder what else is out there?"

"What do you mean, Luke?"

"I mean, the world contains so many secrets, and not even the brightest of minds in this world have been able to crack them. Not even the two assistants of Prof. Oak in Kanto have been able to unlock the mysteries of Pokémon." He glanced at his sleeping Magby. "It's humbling how little we really know about the things tha exist right next to us every day of our lives…" He blinked for a bit. "I should get some sleep. Good night, you two…" As he rolled back to his original position, Rebecca turned to talk to John quietly.

"Hey, I know you're probably hurting about…earlier…"

"No, not really…" he whispered.

"What? You weren't?"

He sighed.

"If I HAD been there, I would have helped you, no doubt about it. However, I wasn't, and that wasn't anybody's fault. I'll just have to try harder to be there for you next time."

_Huh…_

"Well, good night, Rebecca…"

"Hey…John…"

"…Yeah…?"

"…Call me Becca."

"Uh, ok. Good night…Becca."

She couldn't see, but John's face showed a small smile. Crazily enough, so was Becca's.

**Ok, praise God! I can finally call her Becca now! Having everyone trat her formally all this time was surprisingly straining for me. Anyway, keep those votes coming. Even better, though, keep commenting! Let me know how I'm doing, tell me how I can improve. And as always, thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Ok, so this first bit is going to be a bit more violent than I will usually do, so just be warned.**

Chapter 12

"What do you mean, you failed…?"

The two grunts glanced at each other hesitantly. The woman took the dare.

"We're sorry, boss, but we were unable to subdue Prof. Rowan like you had requested."

Silence echoed throughout the stone-cold meeting room as the older man with spiky, blue hair gazed out his wall-sized window into the streets below.

"We share a common dream, do we not?" he finally said. "A dream of everlasting peace in this world, liberty from the bonds that have ensnared humanity for as long as its existence." He cast an unemotional glance at the two terrified grunts. "This is a bold, round-breaking goal we pursue, is it not?"

"Y-yes, sir," the young woman stammered, "This is truly a noble cause."

"Indeed." He began to walk towards the grunts. "It is very noble…" He paused, now standing directly in front of the young woman. "Do you know what the prime reason noble causes go defeated instead of victorious, Number Twenty-Six? Mostly, it is due to the weaknesses of the ones pushing the 'noble movement' in the first place. In other words, the weak links."

She swallowed in fear.

"Forgive me, boss, but humanity as a whole can be considered nothing but weak links, can it not? That is why we are pursuing such a goal."

The older man raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed. Excellent philosophy, Twenty-six, I'm impressed. However, your argument defeats itself. If everyone is weak, then no one can be considered overly weak, and the label of 'weakest link' falls to the weakest of the weak. In particular," a hot flare of anger could now be heard from his voice, "those who cannot perform their duties towards our ideals."

"I can assure you, sir," she explained, "it will not happen again."

"Oh, I believe you won't, Twenty-Six. However, just to be sure…" His hand went to his pocket, and before she had time to blink, the older man had pulled out what looked like a Pokémon fang, maybe from a Crobat. Before she could react, he turned to his right and, rather than lunging on her, ran the dripping fang through the man next to her.

He didn't even make a sound, except for the gasp that came from his lungs as the venomous fang sank right through his heart. The older man casually ripped it out of the man's chest and started walking back to the window as the grunt's friend rushed to his limp form, a cpot of red growing through the man's shirt.

"Mike? No… No, stay with me!" Tears welled up in her eyes as the light in his faded quickly. "Mike, no!"

The older man waited a few seconds for the woman to fall silent.

"Mars has assembled a crew to accompany her on the assault on the Valley Windworks, and they will be leaving in just a few hours. You will accompany them, and will act as the first line of defense against any interference that may arise from these…children." He almost seethed the last word. Noticing the lack of response, he turned to see her still holding the man's corpse. "Be lucky it was quick-acting, for if you should fail me again, I will not hesitate to poison you with slow-acting venom. It might take a few hours, or even days. I get to choose. I suggest you report to Mars immediately, while I'm still in a good mood."

Realizing his words, tears still streaming down her face, the woman laid her friend's head on the floor and took off down the hall, spots of blood still on her hands. As her friends rushed to catch her, her boss calmly went over to the sink and washed the blood from his hands. After he did this, he reached for his pocket mic.

"Numbers 49 and 50, there's been a little spill in my office. I expect it to be removed within the hour." He returned his gaze to the window.

_No more interference. The time for Team Galactic's reveal is nigh. We shall create our new world, no matter the cost._

"Blazer, use Sky Uppercut!"

"Blaziken!"

With a strong punch, the boulder disintegrated into tiny pebbles. Matthew pumped a fist.

"Great job, Blazer!"

The group had been hiking for a whole day again, and they began to notice the large plume of smoke coming from one of the mountains.

"No doubt about it," Sam remarked. "That's Mt. Chimney over that way. We're in the very center of western Hoenn right now."

Well, all these rocks are getting me confused," Ryan exclaimed. "They could have gone in any direction from here."

"Not exactly," Matthew noticed. "Look at the smoke and ash column. It's blowing northward pretty hard right now. I bet no one is anywhere near the routes up there."

"That means they would have to move east or west…"

"Exactly. However, they wouldn't want to risk being cornered somewhere to the west like Rustboro. Most likely, they would have moved east. That's the most likely scenario."

"That," Ryan continued," and Mightyena here believes the same thing."

Matthew nudged Sam on the shoulder, grinning.

"See, what'd I tell you?" His jeans pocket started vibrating. "Oh, hang on a second…" Pulling out his Pokenav, he saw a picture of his girlfriend Nicole on the screen. "Hey, it's Nikki! Can I take this?"

"We've got time to kill, man."

"Ha, ha…" Answering it, "Hello, gorgeous."

"How would you even know I looked even remotely presentable right now? For all you know I'm drenched in mud."

"Are you?"

"No…"

"Ok, then," he chuckled. "What's up?"

"Well, I wanted to talk to you, silly. It's been too long…"

"I agree, Nikki, it has. You know me: always busy…"

"Yeah… Well, I decided to take a little vacation in Sinnoh for a while. I'm taking Emily with me."

"She'll definitely like that."

"Oh, yeah, she will. I just hope the waters aren't too chilly right now. I'm still trying to blubber up, you know?"

"Well, nature is what it is." He looked at the setting sun. "Hey, I've gotta go. Hope you like your vacation."

"Maybe you can come and visit us when you're done over there."

"Oh, I plan on it. Love you."

"Love you, too."

Hanging up, he quickly ran over the conversation. _So, Nikki and Emily are on their way to Sinnoh now. That's good. I hope they'll be ok…_ He smirked at her comment on 'blubbering up.'

"Oh, Nikki," he muttered, "you never change."

As an almost-professional swimmer, Nicole was always preparing her mind and body for whatever challenges she would come across. In particular, the temperature of the water would have a big enough impact on her performance that she stated a ritual of seasonally gaining and losing weight as the seasons past. It wasn't a lot, really, around 10 or 15 pounds, but the extra or less insulation allowed her to better adapt to the temperature of the water, letting her keep her best times no matter what. While she often got weird looks from people as she gained or lost visible weight, most would accept it after receiving an explanation. Even Matthew understood her reasoning behind it.

"All right, team," he called out, "let's keep going! We can get a few more miles in before dusk, right?"

John woke to a sea of void.

_Oh, no, not this again…_ He could see nothing, not even his body. Unlike before, though, his soul wasn't being sucked into the void this time. He was just stuck in limbo.

"Hello? Anyone!"

No response.

"Tell me what this is all about!"

Suddenly, a ray of light shot out of the corner of his vision. The bright blue streak went diagonally to the upper-right. As it went by, it made a swishing sound, and it left a trail in the pattern of the darkness in the same color.

"Woah!"

Suddenly, another one shot in the same direction but in a different spot, forming a pair of parallel lines. Several more streaked past him, and then even more, growing in number and volume, until his entire field of view was obstructed by light-blue. He saw a moving pattern in the color, though, a pattern of moving light that flowed in the same direction as the streaks. As he gazed into the beautiful and strange pattern, though, he felt a familiar tug in his chest.

"Aw… Do I have to leave now?"

The void answered him by turning off the lights.


End file.
